An Intimate Conversation

An Intimate Conversation

As this week’s blog highlights my conversation with Robyn, I will offer a short reflection that arises since our conversation, which you can hear in the podcast.

The challenge for organisations, such as the church and institutions that have – for some time – been central to shaping what some term ‘modernist’ society, is that the world outside no longer looks the same. As such, those within this modern culture, which longs for the stability of old, try to understand the world beyond through what it knows. The challenge, however, is that if you always do, what you’ve always done, you’re only going to see what you always saw …

Developments like social media are indicative of a cultural shift grounded in an awakening awareness that we are an interconnected global family. As such, movements and change begins with a nimbleness not often experienced within modern structures and this can seem overwhelming to those looking out. One need only think of such developments as the Arab Spring, Idle No More and Standing Rock to see where technology and social action meet in a manner that is almost ‘instant.’

This place of constant communication is a paradox for those who have been shaped by mainstream church experiences – relationality. The online environment is a place often grounded in relationships, stories and people longing to share dreams and hurts, celebrations and doubts. In the anonymity, there is a willingness to be vulnerable. For those, in the church, however the space is more like a bulletin board or a repository of information. As such, until faith communities are able to shift and enter this environment as a piazza or town commons, questions about mission and relevance will continue to swirl. Taking the step into this world can indeed be anxious making. Such anxiety is a helpful reminder that bringing the Good News has always carried with it its own paradox: fear and freedom – liberation and dependence – community and choice.

#ShineOn

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