Coming Alive

This time tomorrow we will be in Mexico City.  It will be a nice feeling to have arrived, but honestly one of my favorite things is hanging out in an airport.  Not only is there the people watching, but the food is always really enjoyable.  I’m thinking Chili’s for our layover tomorrow!

As much as I like the airport, I HATE airplanes!

Tonight at community dinner the concept of online church (exclusively experiencing the body of Christ through a computer) was brought up.  Although the general tone was against it I found the criticisms interesting:

1.  Fake, surface level relationships (the ability to deceive others into thinking you are doing well)
2.  Lack of accountability
3.  No real responsibility
4.  No quality time spent with the people in the community of faith 
5.  Participation avoidance

All of those were mentioned.  Some were focused on more than others.  What is interesting though is that EVERY one of those are blatantly obvious problems within the current traditional church model

Most churches have some of the following (if not all):
- That group that shows up 5 minutes late and bolts at the end of last song
- 25% (maybe) of congregation volunteer somewhere while the rest do nothing
- 1% (maybe) of congregation has a ministry outside the church institution 
- Accountability problem: Even if a problem is identified, unless it is premarital sex, homosexuality, or gossip (but only if it affects the pastors) it will probably go unmentioned.  Most traditional churches who count the butts in the seats just rationalize away or ignore real accountability
- A plan for “community” that begins and ends with a “small group” that usually consists of some number of people who get together for an hour and a half a week in a controlled environment*(see note at bottom).  This is not quality time – I can convince anyone of anything for an hour and a half a week.  You can do this for a year and not learn half as much as you would playing a couple of hours of competitive basketball with somebody.  
- 20% of the people doing 80% of the work.  I’ve read leadership books (for ministry) that used this statistic to promote investing most of our time in that 20%…doesn’t that reinforce the laziness of the other 80%?

* I changed my mind.  Probably shouldn’t say what I planned to say here

In conclusion, I am not on board with the idea/concept of a 100% online community (although some churches use it really effectively as a supplement), but I think we need to come up with better arguments against it.  The current ones apply to many of the current models as well.