I wrote two days ago about John Alexander's idea that a healthy family, and possibly also a healthy church, eats together. I suspect they also do other things together. In the book, The Blessing, one of their suggestions near the end of the book is that families that go camping together seem to be closer than those that don't. I think the essential idea here is that healthy communities spend time together. It could involve eating, or camping, or serving the poor together, or singing together, or ____ together. But what struck me today as I wrote out a lengthy email to one of the congregation's recent college graduates who's currently overseas and who hasn't been physically present with the congregation in the four years she's been to school (excepting holiday times), is that in today's day and age, a congregation can talk together, or share photos together, or what have you, via the internet. Granted, that's still pretty different than sitting down at a table next to someone and showing them the photos of a recent trip. But it enables a congregation to continue "togethering" even when a part of that congregation is thousands of miles away. That's kinda cool.
If, as John has suggested, the health of a congregation can in part be determined by how frequently the members eat together, then perhaps another touchstone of health could be in how frequently members keep in contact with each other online, even when they might be in another state or country.
What do you think? How often do you interact with the members of your congregation online?
Well, I agree with the need for good connections. However, as much as I've tried to connect with folks using email I have learned that very few actually respond. Some HATE email (and take much offense if it is used). A few say that email is the WORST way to communicate anything except newsy info. Others say they are way too busy to get email, even email announcements. One couple says that they receive far too many emails that they only want to receive urgent and serious news by email. Others just do not even bother to respond. Then, there are the generational differences - our 15-20ish group prefer texting to email. In fact, most of them rarely check their emails anymore. And a few prefer Facebook to keep in touch, but that does not allow for any real conversations (not to mention all the problems with FB).
ReplyDeleteWhat I've learned is that there are only a few of us that use email, and I'm willing and able to communicate with them that way. But I also find that I have to flex and use all the other media available to keep in touch or "converse" with most of our people at church: hence the use of Multiply, FB, email, texting and phone. But, nothing makes up for good face-to-face encounters over a meal.
I like the word "togethering", I think I'll borrow it :)
ReplyDeletelots of different ways of togethering, and as drdo points out, different ways suit different people. some people from my church are on facebook and it does add to the general feeling of being connected in some way, even though it does tend to stay on surface level. (though not always - some of us are subversive enough to use the fb message feature for *gasp* deep one-to-one conversations...) I know some who are out there as missionaries in far away countries find it a lifeline, even if they do sometimes have to be very very careful in how much they say.
I think part of the beauty of online communication is that you can send out a message to a whole load of people at once. There's no way you could phone round every church member and say: I'm having a bad day, the washing machine isn't working, the youngest has diarrhoea, I've got a report to finish by tomorrow morning, please can you pray. but if you post a message to that effect on multiply/facebook/twitter/wherever then some people will see it and some of them will pray.
one of the missionaries that our church supports is on FB. she posts about how things are going in ukraine (like the fact that the electricity is out... again. or that they lost some of their funding and need to do more fundraising now.) it's better than "prayer letters" in my opinion because you know in "real time" what's going on with them. (and i'm more likely to lead a status update sized post than a printed letter. the printed letters just pile up and make a mess of my dining room table. *sigh*)
ReplyDeleteyes, I'm much better with these real time snippets than with reading long and detailed prayer letters.
ReplyDeleteI really love the idea of eating together... almost like a biblical endorsement to put on weight.
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