While there has been some robust discussion/debate on the benefits/drawbacks of twittering during church gatherings, along with some mainstream press, I find that this has not really been a relevant issue for our little community. Only a couple of us use the Twitter and, out of that handful of people, I am probably the most actively engaged. I must confess, I like gadgets (even if I can’t purchase them), but my interest in Twitter goes beyond fascination with shiny new toys.
This Time article, How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live, contains one insight in particular that I believe speaks volumes to those of us who believe church is a movement, not a monument; that it’s the people, not the buildings. End-user innovation in the Twitterverse is innovation:
in which consumers actively modify a product to adapt it to their needs. In its short life, Twitter has been a hothouse of end-user innovation: the hashtag; searching; its 11,000 third-party applications; all those creative new uses of Twitter — some of them banal, some of them spam and some of them sublime. Think about the community invention of the @ reply. It took a service that was essentially a series of isolated microbroadcasts, each individual tweet an island, and turned Twitter into a truly conversational medium. All of these adoptions create new kinds of value in the wider economy, and none of them actually originated at Twitter HQ. You don’t need patents or Ph.D.s to build on this kind of platform.
What would church look like if it were more like a workshop, where people could create, build and tinker with God-given hopes & dreams? Or maybe like an artists’ collective, where we could find space to innovate, collaborate and refine one another’s work?
Like Twitter, church could become a hothouse for ideas, providing a platform from which Christ-followers could innovate. Instead of saying, “Sign up and do your part in fulfilling the vision of this church” we’d offer the invitation, “Come and awaken to the dreams God has for your life. Discover how, together, we can become a movement of redemption for the sake of the world.”
I’m not interested in fulfilling someone else’s “vision” — I believe God has dreams for each one of us. I’m not interested in building a church where only one person gets to dream and everyone else is supposed to support/build that dream. It’s extremely arrogant to think that one person could contain the dreams that God has for an entire community of people, no matter how great that leader or vision might be.
This process is certain to be messy. It will be difficult to measure. But I’d rather live out open-ended adventures, rather than trying to meet predetermined goals. Maybe we’ll succeed and create things no one had even dreamed of before, or maybe we’ll fail gloriously while trying. Our great hope, in the midst of all uncertainty, is that we serve a God who holds all things together.
That’s the beauty of church to me: that a diverse group of people can come together because of Jesus and see how God knits together all of the hopes and plans He has for each of us. You don’t need advanced degrees or expert knowledge; just a willingness to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.
headsparks* 
“open-sourcing” seems to be the zeitgeist of today; democratizing everything – giving access to everything.
Would love to hear more in the future about how you’re applying this in the ecclesiological setting; intriguing the implications of “open-sourcing the church”
Wayne – Yeah, I agree — lots of “the world is flat”-type discussion these days in all kinds of realms. I think one of the biggest things for me personally has been learning to let go of my “vision” (or, at least, the notion that it is *the* vision for our church). The open-source ethos has been good for us because it’s been empowering; instead of just plugging people in the church’s “needs” we are taking small steps towards our folks initiating and leading things (like the Laundry Love Project), and then I’m part of the support team.
[…] is jump-started by Time mag’s recent cover story on the 140 character cultural phenom. A friend dialogues about it (Twitter) here too. But specifically I am interested in Twitter’s implications for how we do church. I […]
Daniel…wow! Your expression on the use of twitter and open creativity within the church floored me! You are the voice I wish I had when sharing the dream of this vision.
I surveyed those in our first gathering of Revolution Church Sacramento and asked who used twitter. No hands went up. I was a little put out knowing that I feel twitter is an instrument that we will use to help create our story as we journey through life together, but to know that no one in the house would connect with it kind of bummed me out. However, I am sure that Jobs & Wozniac went through similar things when they had the vision for Apple and here we are utilizing the fruit of their labors. Same is probably true for those that pushed for the internet in the early days. Eventually, people are going to get the implications of twitter and what an amazing resource it is to aid in collaboration and freedom of expression. I just too robust of an experience not to take shape in some form that honors God and helps build relevant community.
Some days I think what ministry would be like if there were an earthquake that absorbed central California into the Pacific Ocean and merged Sacramento and San Diego into one new community with us working together to share the vision God has placed in our heart side-by-side. For now, I appreciate the opportunity to experience that virtually through twitter and your eloquent blog :)
Dave – You are way too kind!! I’m so stoked that Revolution has launched — I’m not praying for any natural disasters, but I agree that it would be amazing to work alongside one another :)
i tried to get my church to explore using twitter and kinda got shot down. i feel like twitter would be helpful and interesting not only during services but also as a way to continue the conversations throughout the week. i know pastors always struggle with how to help people feel engaged between sundays. don’t know if you’ve seen this, but twitter is starting to be used in a similar way in classrooms. here’s an article about one teacher’s use of twitter.
Rich – Bummed to hear about that. I think you have some great insights into how Twitter can be useful in the life of a church. Thanks for the link to the article, too!