Social Media and Authentic Relationships

This quote, from a political context, contains a challenge for us in the church as well:

"The only way to attract these new faces is through building real, ongoing relationships with others over a long period of time."

"We need to get re-acquainted with the notion that the relationships that really matter are not made through Twitter and social media. Real relationships take time to grow, and they begin with a genuine interest in the stories, dreams and challenges harbored within each of us."


-- Jeb Bush, speaking to his fellow Republicans at a recent CPAC dinner.

This begs a question: As we seek to connect with people via social media, how does this impact our desire to build authentic, grace-filled communities that care about the "stories, dreams and challenges" of others?

"So what exactly are you doing?"

"So what are you doing, exactly?" That's the question people keep asking about Outside Church Walls, the Steering Team group. It's a great question, one that we keep asking ourselves, in fact.

We've gotten together four times now, and it's taken us this long just to get to know each other and understand our mandate, "[to] engage the diocese in reaching out into our culture for information and connection, identify the future God is calling us into, interpret the future for the people who are here, and begin plotting the course that will take us there." That's a wide open mandate, and we've spent our first four meetings talking about various aspects of who we are, as individuals and as a group, and how we can go about accomplishing this work we've been asked to do.

So we ask lots of questions, wondering about the church as it is, and wondering what we might be called to be. We've also done some reading on how change happens in groups, since the last part of our mandate is to plot the course that will take us toward living the future God has called us into. We read a book called Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (you can order a copy from Amazon by clicking here: http://amzn.to/XnjGdz). We started wrestling with the content of that book last Friday, and we'll have more to say about it shortly here on the blog.

But the question at the heart of it all is this: What is the future God is calling us to, and how do we get there? That's not a question our committee can answer; it's a question that God is answering, and our diocese is listening for that answer. So we're going to keep writing about the questions we're asking, and invite you into the conversations we're having, both here on the blog, and in your parishes and communities. Our goal in all of this is to be as transparent as we can. We want to show you, through our blog, what we're thinking about; you have the answers we're listening for- our job is to articulate them together.

We've already started asking questions, through our survey online, which asks: What six words come to mind when you think of the word "church?" If you haven't already had a chance to answer it, you can do so by clicking here: http://bit.ly/15AaGXT. But more importantly, you can help us by inviting people who don't regularly attend church to answer it for us. The whole thing takes as long to fill out as it takes to type up to six words, and the more people that fill it out, the better our data will be.

And I'll add another question, which I hope you'll comment on below: when you think about your community (however you define it), what is it that first drew you to that community, and why did you stay?

Looking forward to continuing the conversation!

Blessings,

R.C. Laird

'Church' Survey

What comes to mind when you think of the word “Church”? Can you put your thoughts in 6 words or less? We really hope you will.

Perhaps more challenging, what do our neighbors think when they hear the word “Church”? We’d like to get them to put their thoughts in six words as well.

As we look toward the vibrant future God is calling us into, we need to know what we don’t know. This simple survey is a way to begin exploring what the church means to people, those in it and those not. 

Please take a moment to complete the following survey: http://obsurvey.com/S2.aspx?id=D2154AAA-1078-4DCF-881E-EE7C045B042C 

Furthermore, pass this along to your friends and neighbors, especially those who do not regularly attend church.You may even print out this post and use the QR code below to share :)

Robert