OK. I feel like I’m taking a little bit of a risk in this post: talking about a website sounds more like management or administration than leadership. However, the point of a website is communication, and (duh) leadership is all about communication.
Here is why I think this website (and this church’s rationale behind it) is significant:
1. The emphasis is on what people need to know; not what I want to tell them. If I have already learned and forgotten more theology and biblical facts than many people would ever care to know, why do I squeeze them all into a sermon? Actually serving someone is way more impressive than trying to impress them.
2. Integration rather than re-creation. Do we really need to create the next Facebook (but the Christian version)? Personally, I find that the value of integration—leading people to integrate their faith among the people they already know, the places they already go, the homes they already live in—is a huge step in living in redemption, where Jesus takes what is old and makes it new.
3. These leaders recognize the value of story. I have a question: Are Christians afraid to deal with real life? It just seems to me that many people run from the grit of incarnation and find safe haven in facts, lessons and morals. People might memorize facts; but they live in story.
Communication is key to leadership.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate much of what Life Church is doing with their new website. I like that one of the main features of the new site will be sharing stories and celebrating what has been going on in the life of the church. It’s so easy to get caught up in projects and outreaches, never taking time to stop and celebrate what God has been doing in the midst of a congregation’s life. Before starting on a new building project, or a new outreach plan, or small group push, it can be really life-giving to stop and allow a congregation the time to process how faithful God has been. Particularly as our culture becomes more and more post-modern, I believe it is important to focus on sharing stories of how people have met Jesus and been blessed by their time with the church, and less important to focus one’s website on the specific statement of beliefs that define the church. It has been my experience that those who check a church’s website to make sure that a church’s statement of faith matches their exact specifications and beliefs are usually not the best people to have in one’s church in the first place.
ReplyDelete