Still seeking?

I think we all want to live significant lives. The question for most of us is how. For people of religious faith they frequently turn to God, seeking his guidance and direction to answer that question. Kovach (1999) in his PhD dissertation proposed that at the deepest level “seeking to know the will of God may reflect a desire to be accountable to Christ with a profound concern to accomplish something significant for Christ and his kingdom” (p. 2). He argued that finding the will of God has been a preoccupation of evangelical Christians since the 1960s and cited a wealth of literature that offered guidance in finding guidance. When I quickly surveyed Bowker’s Global Books in Print (January 15, 2009) I found sixty books published after 1999 for the Canadian market alone on the subject of discerning God’s will. The majority of these works are written for the popular market with titles like Handbook for Discovering God’s Will (Jackson, 2008) and God has a Plan for your Life (Stanley, 2008). The authors include such evangelical heavy-weights as Charles Stanley, J.I. Packer, Elisabeth Elliot, R.C. Sproul, Henry Blackaby, and Tim LaHaye, best known for his apocalyptic fiction series, Left Behind. Best-selling evangelical author Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life (2002) and Purpose Driven Church (1995) discuss “what on earth am I here for” (2002, p. 15) and “God’s purpose for your church” (1995, p. 393). A survey of print literature only hints at part of the explosion of interest. A search of the online video sharing site GodTube (now Tangle)(January 17, 2009) offered over eight hundred of videos that discuss the “will of God”, and a search of podcasts on ITunes (January 17, 2009) on the “will of God” found one hundred fifty podcasts submitted by local churches and international organizations like Jimmy Swaggart Ministries. This preoccupation has not yet abated and is taking on new dimensions in the digital age.

So where would you look if you wanted to know the will of God? What would you read? To whom would you talk?

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Virtual Church Part II

Interestingly, the topic of virtual church came up on Dr. Heidi Campbell's blog (see "There is no virtual ekkelsia (?)". Two Pastors associated with the emerging church movement have argued that there can be no virtual community by the very definition of community. I am somewhat inclined to agree except that there are people in cyberspace who are finding their church needs met online. I recommend Campbell's book "Exploring Religious Community Online" (Peter Lang, 2005) if you are curious about some people's online experiences. Does community require a physical presence? Is the growth of online churches a symptom of the failure of many real life churches to build authentic communities? Could you be satisfied with a spiritual home online? Why not?

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Religiously Environmental

The American Academy of Religion conference will be held in Montreal on November 7-10. That it is in Canada is an extreme rarity and I'm registered to attend (I'll blog my sessions). In the course of planning for this conference, I had a discussion with a prof who has given up conference travel for environmental reasons. I've often thought of this over the past few years both from fiscal as well as environmental standpoints. Such conferences are great learning experiences and even greater networking opportunities. But it is a lot of travel and expense for what is usually 3-4 days. As a Christian I need to be concerned with these questions. Sometimes I think Christians get so focused on the future "new heaven and new earth" (Revelation 21) that we neglect this one. Don't get me wrong; the idea of an earth restored into what it should have been in God's original intention is fantastic and I want to live in such a world! But from the very beginning of the Bible there is also the idea that human beings rule the earth only as regents or stewards (Genesis 1). We enjoy its benefits but it is not ours to do as we please. I do believe God will hold us accountable for our poor stewardship. So where does that leave me? I think it is valuable for me as a young scholar to attend this conference, but I need to find ways to reduce my carbon footprint. First, I'm taking the train to Montreal. It is a longer but greener trip. I plan to find other ways to reduce. Anyone know of any good virtual conferences upcoming?

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Church in SecondLife?

SecondLife is an online adult simulation that has existed since 2003. Those who haven't explored this virtual world may not realize how popular it is. Mainstream religion is starting to discover the hundreds of thousands of people who frequent this world, and are creating their own places. As I write this, my avatar is sitting in a service of Calvary Chapel SecondLife, a evangelical Scottish virtual congregation. There are about two dozen other avatars here listening to the sermon. It is an interesting experience to participate in this environment. It is a "come as you are place"; no suits here (in fact not everyone here even looks human.) But it is a form of community made up from people around the globe. Am I at Church? Sounds like church...looks alot like church (except comfy chairs not pews). Religion in the digital age will continue to blur the lines. Oh, there is a round of "Amens" as the sermon ends...gotta go, I like this worship song! ;-)

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