But some say that the pain of decline can bring new life as well. And some are seeing signs – perhaps a freedom born of “why not?” – that Presbyterians are using the creativity of technology to jump-start new conversations, new ways of communicating, new ways of forming connection.
Some examples:
• At the Montreat College Conference Jan. 2-5, called “Outrageous Generosity,” participants “live-Twittered” the event using the www.Twitter.com form of social networking, to send out short, bite-sized snippets of their lives and experiences, to provide on-the-spot commentary and slices of life from the preaching, the music, the fun. For the more than 1,000 who were expected to attend the conference, Twitter provided another way to interact. And those who couldn’t be there in person could, through the Twitter technology, follow along.
• Presbyterians Shawn Coons and Adam Walker Cleaveland floated the idea of “Twitter of Faith” — making a statement of faith in 140 characters or less — in November and took off. The statements range from the briefest — “Love God. Love Everyone” — to those who throw in the towel and say it can’t be done. (One guy offered a link to a 10-part series on his blog outlining his beliefs.) Some are certain (“Saved by faith in Christ. Jesus died for my sins. Jesus lives.”) and some questioning (“sometimes I believe that there is a God of Justice and Love who makes all things worthwhile. Sometimes I don’t. Mostly I’m not sure”). Among the others: “God is not an old white man with a beard.”
• Bruce Reyes-Chow, moderator of the 218th General Assembly, has started hosting “mod-casts” — or pod-casts for anyone who wants to tune into the conversation. In December, for example, he spoke with Centre College sociologist Beau Weston about Weston’s paper “Rebuilding the Presbyterian Establishment,” and roughly 200 people tuned in to watch. Weston’s paper — advocating a shift in the centers of power in the PC(USA) — has generated some buzz, and Reyes-Chow made it clear he does not agree with some of Weston’s arguments. Some contended Reyes-Chow was giving Weston’s ideas too much attention. But the mod-cast got the conversation going online, with some saying that being able to listen to Weston explain his views and to have the chance to observe his demeanor made them more willing to listen and consider what he had to say.
For Reyes-Chow, the focus is not on a particular form of technology — the latest hot thing — but on how people integrate it into their lives and their ministry.
Often, “folks still see technology purely as a method,” Reyes-Chow said in an interview. “There’s that shift between something we do in order to do something to ‘This is just the natural way we communicate.’ It’s not going to become a real part of the church until those for whom this is the natural medium have power in the church.”
Part of that shift is a wiki-way of looking at the world — many people share information and authority, and ideas and resources bubble up.
At his urban congregation, Mission Bay Community church in San Francisco, for example, probably 75 percent of those who visit the church have read reviews of the congregation on Yelp.com, an online site where people review restaurants, coffee shops, and everything from dry cleaners to churches. They go, they visit, they report back what they think, good and bad.
When people visit Mission Bay after reading the reviews on Yelp, “all the power is with them,” Reyes-Chow said. “They know about us far more than we know about them. So when they walk in, the anxiety about being a visitor is almost gone. What they’re looking for is `Are we consistent? Are we consistent with our online presence?’ ”
That’s the all-important give-and-take. In another measure of how the conversation is shifting, Presbyterian bloggers — conservatives, liberals, and those who don’t give a snowball about denominational politics — are reading one another’s work and linking back-and-forth. One result of that is an enhanced sense of community.
Steve Salyards, an elder from California who writes “The GA Junkie blog,” wrote recently that “it is also interesting how this year I am more aware of other peoples’ health challenges out there in the “Church Virtual,” the collection of brothers and sisters in Christ that I know mostly, if not entirely, in the on-line community.” Salyards then lifted up for prayer a blogger-friend diagnosed with cancer in December, a minister Salyards knows only through their online connection.
Salyards wrote that “this is the power of the online world, that we do become Christian Community with each other through this Web 2.0 stuff.” And he said, “I am becoming a fan of Facebook status updates as a way of building and maintaining Christian Community.” Through those updates on Facebook and Twitter, “I was aware of various challenges and obstacles that my friends encountered through the holiday season, and it quickly filled up my prayer list.”
Salyards described those updates as “a tool in the development and maintenance of covenant community.”
Reyes-Chow also is aware, however, that many Presbyterians are slow adapters to new technology, if they go there at all. “We’re in this in-between time,” Reyes-Chow said and he hopes to use the next half-year or so to ask questions about how this cultural shift really should play out in congregations and denominations.
Byron Wade, vice-moderator of the 218th General Assembly, has written on his blog, “if you talk to many people, one will get the sense that the Presbyterian Church as a whole needs a new way of leadership as we look into the future. Undoubtedly, we cannot continue to do things the way that they have always been done. To paraphrase a favorite book of mine, we can no longer be an eight-track church in a CD world. Actually it is getting to the point that we can no longer be a CD church in an iPod world. The church today needs new strategies and new ways to do mission, have relevant worship, and grow and nurture disciples without sacrificing the core values and beliefs of the reformed tradition.”
As Reyes-Chow put it in the interview: “Folks are sensing that there is some shift that is real,” he said. “What are we going to do? … We want to be part of something transformative. Clearly, we’re headed somewhere else. What does that look like?”
