Online Community, Part 2
It’s been 6 weeks since a bunch of us joined facebook. I have some observations, and many more questions. Pick one and comment away!
We have 35 people on our “WECA Young Adults” group page, about a dozen more than the number coming out on any given Thursday night (to have community in person). Online - we send cute messages, post bizarre pics, and find long lost friends... When we get together, we joke around about the popularity of facebook, and explain it to the people who haven’t heard about it yet. But does this conversation piece lead to any deeper connections? I suppose it could, I’m just not certain it has. I do find that when we see each other (Thursdays, Sunday etc. We do talk alot about facebook topics... coffee in church, that funny photo of you, Stephen Harper is my friend etc. So maybe this online community could be a spark igniting deeper stuff? Is it like any other common interest... be it a favourite TV show, NHL playoffs, or the weather? Which leads me to the following question...
Is it possible that we just don’t know how to make the leap from surface relationships to meaningful community? We’d like to, we just don’t know how.
Does facebook fill a void in my life created by my inability to deepen my relationships?
Or am I making too much of this whole thing?
posted by Rob Petkau at 12:08 PM
9 Comments:
i actually think that thought is pretty valid.. somewhere along the road of whatever i think it just becomes easy to lose that relational ability if you don't use it, learn it, grow in it... that's why i often wish north america wasn't so north american, and we all lived in communes and massive families like in other parts of the world. (ywam has turned me into an advocate for community living :) i think we miss out on a deeper aspect of relationships sometimes though.
Hey bro. Long time...
I suspect that the leap from friendship to community is risk. We need to risk, which requires trust. No risk involved, no trust needed. There are two kinds of risks: vulnerablilty and dependence. We can become vulnerable by the sharing of information, and dependence by kiving in such a way that our lives require the participation of others. Independence and self-security are the enemies of community.
I always have been and always will be an advocate of real life instead of internet. While the argument can be made that technology can be used to build community - the argument can also be made that 200 years ago we didn't have internet and cell phones AND community was way stronger and more relevant than it is today.
Good comments everyone.
CJ, we've been talking about risk at our Young Adult stuff - thanks for identifying that element.
Further to that... what do we do in order to grow? Move into communes? Ideas?
I believe that what Facebook is missing is.... FOOD. Really. Think about it. Communion... meal. When we get together.... chips and pop or nachos and wings. I ACTUALLY believe there IS something powerful about sharing a meal together.
At our Living Room Church, we eat a meal together every week. And we endeavor to share a meal with another Christian and another person who isn't a Christian throughout the week.
It becomes a place to exhange hearts and listen.
Hey, we all need to eat, hy not be missional about it?
So Facebook can't hold a candle to my wife's waffles!!!!
Yet another comment about the very thing my group and I have been discussing! Prolly' my next post! Thanks Paul.
I've been thinking about community lately, or more accurately not thinking about community.
It seems that similar to facebook, church is simply another host for community. I'm not sure that our jobs are to create community, or even to host it, though that has become a focus lately.
Is community our goal? If so, why?
If I'm not mistaken, when we talk about community we're talking about relationship, and to this end I think CJ's comment is bang on.
I don't think we should attempt to create community, maybe play host to, but community happens in each individuals openeness.
But thats just one mans opinion, what do you think of it all?
Good call Boomer. "Community" has become a buzz-word. I think it's all about relationships - but not only that... it's about Kingdom relationships. To me this means deeper than surface level, built on biblical values (grace, truth, love, loyalty, self sacrificing etc.), and missional - reaching for and embracing those who are not connected (Saved or othewrwise). "Community" just seems like a good word to ecompass this. But yeah - I can't create it - but I can try to host or even facilitate it.
For the record, I am still holding out on facebook. There will be a critical mass of people who will eventually put enough pressure on me and then SNAP! I'll be on facebook. Unitl then, I will give my observations from outside (ie. myspace).
My observation is simple:
Facebook is currently the closest thing we have to Jonny Carson, that is, one shared experience. That rabbit hole goes pretty deep...
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