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People Seeking
People are trying to make sense of their lives; seeking answers to profound questions.
Seeking Faith
Sometimes these are questions of faith and belief.
Faith in the Information Age
Technology is changing culture often subtly. As culture changes so does the pursuit of faith.
Faith Endures
Yet faith remains, and the questions that people are seeking to answer persist.
Informing Faith
This is a blog about faithful people seeking answers, and the information they seek gather, and use to find their answers in the rapidly changing, yet unchanging information age.
Yes, bikers and beer but first Church. When you last went to church, did you feel welcome? Did you think "hey, I think I'll come back" or were you just glad when the Minister said "Amen" and you could exit. In the course of my research I have visited many churches. None were unwelcoming, but some were extra friendly. One mails out Tim Horton's gift cards to first time visitors (Tip: always fill out the visitor's card.) Yes, that got my attention and I don't even drink coffee! Other churches had an excitement about them that attracted me.
Since I am researching how church leaders gather information in order to re-vision their churches, I've gathered many of the books/materials they have referenced. I have read most of them as I try to get a sense of how they are seeking. I am presently finishing "Growing and Engaged Church" by Albert Winseman. Winseman works with the Gallup Organization (the Polling/Survey folks), and draws on that expertise, as well as fifteen years as a Pastor. He spent some time talking about "being welcoming." Why is being welcoming important for Winseman: because people who feel welcomed will feel they are valued by the church. People who feel valued will be engaged people, more inclined to grow, serve, and give. Not just in the church but in their communities as well. If I visited your church next would I feel welcome?
I promised bikers and beer. This is a video Carlsberg made about being welcoming. It has nothing about church but I came across it on the ChurchMag's blog. Here is the scenerio: A couple enters a movie theater that has been completely pre-filled with
tough looking biker types, leaving only two seats available. Watch what happens...
Last week I had the privilege of participating in the 1st Religion & Diversity Project's Doctoral Workshop in Ottawa. Under the direction of Prof. Jim Beckford, nine doctoral students shared their research, discussed theory and plotted dissertation writing. We learned a lot and had fun.
Today's post however is about a theoretical concept we considered in our workshop: intersectionality as demonstrated by juggling to the Beatles. Hey, I'm serious so pay attention as I badly explain (no laughing or eye-rolling allowed.) The theory of Intersectionality (pdf) was coined by Kimberle Crenshaw who was exploring how socially constructed categories of race and gender interact. For instance we can explore what it means to be a women in our society or what it means to be an African-Canadian. But what happens when these two identities intersect? How is their experience of oppression different from either experience? It is an important theory in human rights and discrimination studies.
OK, not my usual research area, and I'll have to think about this more. Prof. Jim used this video to explain the concept; its about juggling but the juggling changes when the music starts. This I get. P.S. Turn up your volume and enjoy.
Boulder, Colorado...in January. No, I don't ski. I am told there is a great Sherpa restaurant in Boulder so that's on the itinerary.
So my proposal:
The Theology of Information Seeking: Understanding Church Leaders’ Source Selection
in a Digital World. I will argue that leaders cite theological orthodoxy as an important criterion for selection of information sources, but will then frequently cite materials outside of their own religious tradition. Baptist might use a Nazarene study guide online, or a Pentecostal a Mennonite video. This is certainly the case with online sources due to their convenience. Is there a contradiction here? And is there also a risk that these theologically diverse online media will undermine traditional authorities and create a hodge-podge stitched together faith? Bapta-costals and Menno-renes?
Perhaps not. When I look at the sources they cite closely, and how they use them, I am seeing a pattern. Leaders may not feel inhibited to "borrow" from those outside their faith community, as long as the borrowed bits still "fit" their church's teaching. So Pentecostals can borrow from Baptists the bits that fit Baptist doctrines, in part because they are both part of the same evangelical theological traditions. What I am not seeing is evangelicals borrowing from mainstream protestant or catholic traditions. These are outside of their theological family. Do those boundaries exist for other traditions? I am also fascinated when diverse religious groups use the same secular materials. Are these safe because they are non-theological?
So things to do: finish the paper, get my air ticket, and buy wooly socks.
Who do leaders turn to when they want to grow their leadership?
On September 29-30 I had attended the Global Leadership Summit, a webcast conference on Christian leadership, hosted by the Willowcreek Community Church, an evangelical mega-church of 24,000 attendees. The conference was attended by 165,000 leaders meeting at sites in 70 countries. I met with the several hundred leaders at a Canadian site at Stoneridge Fellowship.
The conference was about Christian leadership, though not necessarily church leadership; many of the speakers and attendees were from the business world; and not all were Christians. One central idea is that wisdom can be found in many places. Consider the panel of speakers:
From the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies to the garbage heaps of Cairo. Pastors and politicians; academics and bloggers. There was such a wealth of knowledge and experience in just two days, that I will take some time to process it all. I found some leaders impacted me emotionally like Mother Maggie, who lives and serves among the poorest peoples. Seth Godin for instance inspired my imagination.
Let's go back to that earlier premise: wisdom can be found in many places, or "all truth is God's truth." The theological foundation is natural theology: we can discern truths about God and human beings through an understanding of the natural created order. Dating back to Thomas Aquinas, this was a fundamental motivation for medieval western science. So we can enrich ministry through insights from psychology, sociology, business, marketing and the arts. But don't think for a minute that this was happening uncritically. Attenders come with theological filters that will determine what information that will take and integrate into their worldview. Bibby's observation that Canadian evangelicals should be engaging with Canadian Catholics might have had sound sociological support, but ran up against deep theological prejudices (enough so that the session chair first warned us that "we might not all agree with everything the next speaker will share.") McManus' plea for the arts and the revival of storytelling would fall flat for those whose theology rejects such things as frivolous. McManus' film group created one of the winning Doritos superbowl ads, but faced criticism for not using the opportunity for a Christian message (McManus' response: "But it was a Doritos commercial!") Some speakers made conscience attempts to correlate their teaching with the Bible like Dr. Cloud, while others like Seth Godin did not, even though the idea of faith was there.
My personal theology allows me to learn from wise leaders inside the church and outside. The Bible will remain my final authority on what I adopt and integrate into my faith. And whether I engage with my Catholic neighbours. But that's next week's post....
P.S. I bought the DVD if you want to borrow it. :-)
I am fascinated by the people side of information. I am the Public Services Librarian at the Sir James Dunn Law Library, Schulich School of Law. I hold an Interdisciplinary PhD from Dalhousie in Human Information Behaviour, and Sociology of Religion and New Media.
Posts
11/24/2011 10:56:00 AM
David Michels
