Thank you so much for your clarification. I do agree with you that our ability to have online community is growing exponentially (ie- you and I are having this conversation). However, I personally believe that the best online relationship will not be equal to a face to face one (maybe once holidecks become reality, but I am still skeptical technology will be able to transmit all the nuances of being face to face with someone).

I use technology every day and you are correct that I can choose when and where to be vulnerable with others, but the truth is that better communication can happen when I am face to face with someone. E-mail is fine, video is good, telephones are great but I know that my relationship with my wife would suffer greatly if we were only able to communicate online. My wife is equally real with me whether our interaction happens via telephone or over a coffee, but way more communication happens when we actually get to hang out together.

I am not against the use of technology in reaching our generation I just see it as more of a vitamin supplement in a healthy relationship diet. Technology enhances my relationships with others and even sometimes introduces me to others, but in my opinion there is a limit to how deep community can go in an online setting (and please don’t hear me saying that churches meeting for an hour on Sunday with a ten minute time for fellowship are necessarily practicing community). That can easily be just as anemic (if not more so) as the relationships built in online forums.

Thanks for being available here on your blog. I pray God’s blessings on you and your ministry and all the you put your hands to!

Sincerely,
Matt

for some people (a growing number of people), i believe this to be very accurate. online relationships are stronger and more authentic than face-to-face relationship. obviously, this would be the case for all people.

i think it’s absurd, though, to assume that people are more “real” because they are physically present. people can be just as fake in person as they are online.

ultimately, only God knows our heart. we can’t hide from him.

tony

I came to the Church 2.0 workshop that you helped facilitate at the Innovation3 Conference and wanted to make sure that I understood what you were saying accurately. I heard you say that your most meaningful relationships happen through a web based forum because that is the place in your life where you find yourself being the most vulnerable with others. You said (and I paraphrase) that for people who try to elevate a face to face encounter as being better are just kidding themselves if they don’t think that people know how to manipulate their outer image and portray themselves as someone who they are not. Thus, the main thing I took away from your comments is that the church should not only embrace technology and social networks, but that this should be the main place that we focus our time and energy if we want to really connect with this generation. Please correct me if I misunderstood you, but it appeared to me that you would say online social networks in today’s world are more important than any kind of offline relationship or community that we have. Have I heard you correctly?

Cheers,
Matt