Comments on: Blogs are the new congregations

By: o2thoughtful

o2thoughtful — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 10:05:35 +0000

Nice! Maybe I’ll take all those trackers, technorati links, counters off then? But then I’d just be left with my monologue and it would be pretty dull. At least I can see where the lurkers come from LOL! Good post, thanks.

By: ZooMuse

ZooMuse — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 09:14:52 +0000

Jason, it’s okay if you want to tell your secrets, but now you’re telling mine. Ouch, a little too close to home! I now focus a little less on how many (few) hits my blogsites get, but…. Thanks for your transparency.

By: Marcia

Marcia — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 23:27:54 +0000

Funny!

By: Helen

Helen — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 11:20:52 +0000

Rob (17) – on the Off The Map blog network we look for interesting comments and repost them as new blog entries to share around ‘who has the voice’. We also are very open to having guest bloggers. For us it’s all about the dialog; if the blog entry is the ‘platform’ we’d rather share it than cling onto it just because we happen to have the role of ‘blog host’.

I prefer to think of myself as – hopefully – a ‘dialog facilitator’ than as ‘the one who gets to talk while everyone else listens’.

We also try to be present and participate in the comments (to the extent we have time), responding to questions and indicating that we appreciate that people took time to post comments.

I expect our blogs are flawed in many ways but we ARE trying to address the things which bug us about the way we do ‘church’ rather than simply carry those things over into ‘blog format’. We want the way we blog to reflect Off The Map’s values – i.e. following Jesus in ways that emphasize kindness, being otherly, treating people with respect, having fun, being creative, being ‘real’, etc.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 08:26:22 +0000

Rob (17): Blogging is far form dead, it just needs to reform, and you make some great suggestions.

I’ve been trying with my new design to do some othe things you mention, guest bloggers, comment rss and subscription, profiling commenters (see my sidebar)…and trying to ask open questions from posts…

Great questions, any other ideas anyone?

By: Rob Waller

Rob Waller — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 06:34:14 +0000

“ecclesia semper reformanda est” or something like that! the Reformers said ‘the church i ALWAYS in need of renewal’.

jason – this doesn’t meant that blogging is dead any more than blogging is holy. we just need to reform it. i have some ideas:

1. use a blogging platform where you can have guest bloggers easily. eg word opress [must change over...]
2. invent a system where comments are given as much profile as the original posts – again, a comments RSS feed helps but is not ideal
3. ask more questions and give less monologue – what other ways are ther to get the lurkers involved? [that was a question you lukers!]

any other ideas anyone?

By: Existential Punk

Existential Punk — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 01:01:58 +0000

By: John Smulo

John Smulo — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 22:19:03 +0000

Jason,

Very insightful thoughts! Ouch and ha ha at the same time.

Paul,

“Should have grown a virtual goatee”–very funny :-)

By: Dana Ames

Dana Ames — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 21:33:00 +0000

Dangit Jason, you made me laugh out loud! Too clever-
Dana

By: seÃ±or jefe

seÃ±or jefe — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 20:01:26 +0000

What is particularly interesting about this revelation you have here is that, in our attempts to villify evangelical church, we have, in fact, imitated her… especially in postmodern circles.

There is a know-it-all attitude, pervasive in churches, that is merely substituted by a blogitude that is accepting-it-all. Many times, the attitude accompanying our lack of answers is just as polarizing as the church’s attitude accompanying their pet theologies.

May we all come to recognize our own humanity, and accept our tendency toward pride.