{"id":5416,"date":"2009-07-17T12:53:05","date_gmt":"2009-07-17T12:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2009\/07\/tell-us-what-you-think-from-jo.html"},"modified":"2009-07-17T12:53:05","modified_gmt":"2009-07-17T12:53:05","slug":"tell-us-what-you-think-from-jo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/07\/tell-us-what-you-think-from-jo.html","title":{"rendered":"Tell us what you think: from John LaGrou"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sermon.jpg\"<\/span>John LaGrou<\/a> is avant garde when it comes to the power and value of technology. In this post, he questions the long term value and survival of the Sunday sermon. What do you think?<\/i><\/p>\n

Antoine at MMM<\/a>
\nasks, “How Do Faith-Based Organizations Respond to Increasingly
\nMobile-Connected Members and Communities?” This isn’t just a
\ngood question. I think it echoes a central dynamic shaping not just
\nreligion, but all social organization going forward.<\/p>\n

How do faith-based organizations respond to virtuality? The hardest
\npart may be convincing the community that there’s a good reason to sit
\nand stare at a stage, listening to a religious lecture. The
\nvirtually-connected church now has on-line access to the finest
\nteaching and preaching imaginable, accessible at their convenience, 7 x
\n24 x 365. Of what value is physically proximate information (e.g.,
\nstage-centric pastor) when the average person can now access the best
\nsermons, preaching, teaching, and cross-referenced commentary on-line?<\/p>\n

Finding better information elsewhere, the virtually-connected
\ncommunity will restructure their physical gatherings to really
\nconnect and be present with each other<\/em> – like they do on-line
\nall week long. When this happens, pastors can step off the stage and be
\nreleased to really pastor. Gifted teachers (who may or may not have
\npastoral gifts) can teach in smaller groups where true interactivity
\ncan take place. Intimate, organic F2F gathering becomes the central
\nfocus, not a mid-week breakout session.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I listen to the world’s finest theological discourses via my
\nBlackberry while I workout at the gym or on my morning walk or driving
\nin my truck. Why would I spend my time sitting in an audience every
\nSunday to hear a comparatively mediocre religious talk? In the last few
\nweeks, I have absorbed hours of profound spiritual monologues and
\nconversations with people like Tozer, Yancey, Peterson, and Fr. Rohr.<\/p>\n

We all have something to contribute, together. A
\nvirtuality-connected community (which is everyone in my son’s
\ngeneration) will increasingly mimic their on-line engagement in F2F
\ngatherings, signaling the end of the monologue church era. “Church” is
\nredefined, in part, from a place of one-way information transfer to a
\ndistributed gathering which fosters authentic collaboration – in many
\nways mirroring the multi-way virtual experience.<\/p>\n

Is it the end of the Sunday Sermon? No. Not in my lifetime, nor in my
\nson’s lifetime, nor perhaps anytime. And certainly there is a place for
\nthe stage. But generational changes in networking assure that a
\nprofound shift is coming. And this gives me great hope for a virtual
\nreformation in the way we live as a glocal spiritual community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John LaGrou is avant garde when it comes to the power and value of technology. In this post, he questions the long term value and survival of the Sunday sermon. What do you think? Antoine at MMM asks, “How Do Faith-Based Organizations Respond to Increasingly Mobile-Connected Members and Communities?” This isn’t just a good question. I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastoring-and-preaching"],"yoast_head":"\nTell us what you think: from John LaGrou - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/07\/tell-us-what-you-think-from-jo.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tell us what you think: from John LaGrou - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"John LaGrou is avant garde when it comes to the power and value of technology. 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