New Media Project announces changes for next phase
By Verity A. Jones | I have good news to share. Lilly Endowment Inc. has granted Christian Theological Seminary additional funding to complete a transitional phase of the New Media Project over the...
View ArticleCommunity formation and social media: Series introduction
By Verity A. Jones | Do social media help or hinder the formation of communities of faith? Does the temptation to gossip on social media negatively impact a community trying to live together...
View ArticleCommunity formation and social media: People show up for content and stay for...
By Brandon Cox, guest blogger | I'm not particularly a fan of the phrase "social media." It's a new term that describes something very old. Media has always existed, we just somehow moved away from...
View ArticleCommunity formation and social media: Embracing the awkward
By Carolyn Lesmeister and Joshua Burkholder | I do not remember junior high with fondness. My body was disproportionate to itself; my hair was recovering from the 1980s; and my mouth contained so much...
View ArticleCommunity formation and social media: The blessing of fluidity
By Kimberly Knight | In his book Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, “It is the curse and promise (of Christendom) that God’s people must dwell in far countries among unbelievers, but it will be...
View ArticleCommunity formation and social media: Community beyond statistics
By Kathryn Reklis | Last fall the National Catholic Reporter published an article on a recent study conducted by Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA): “Study:...
View ArticleCommunity formation and social media: Moderating conflict in an online community
By David Hayward, guest blogger | One of the most important aspects of community is strong leadership, or moderation. This is also true of an online community. If you are not involved with the...
View ArticleCommunity formation and social media: Conflict as a place to practice and...
By Deborah Arca, guest blogger | The Internet today is a unique and extraordinary space for Christians to practice love and model compassion, charity, and hospitality to the rest of the world. And we...
View ArticleCommunity formation and social media: The “little way” to healing
By Julie Vieira | Many of us have experienced powerful moments of healing within our local faith communities. But what about online communities? Can healing take place when we are not face to face? Can...
View ArticleCommunity formation and social media: Online altar rails
By Monica A. Coleman | In many traditional churches in my denomination (A.M.E. Church), there are altar rails. An altar rail is a wooden railing that distinguishes the pulpit area from the rest of the...
View ArticleCommunity formation and social media: Four principles for nurturing community
By Jim Rice | Years ago, I was a member of an intentional Christian community in what was then a poor inner-city neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Community members met regularly to worship, discern and...
View ArticleCommunity formation and social media: Nurturing one another online
By Lisa Marchal | About seven years ago, I returned from nine months abroad doing coursework for professional enrichment. When I returned from this extraordinary experience, I was changed. I was also...
View ArticleCommunity formation and social media: Resources
By Kenetha J. Stanton | Over the course of this series, we have taken a look at community formation and social media through the lenses of community planting, identity formation, conflict, healing, and...
View ArticleSocial media beyond Facebook and Twitter
By Verity A. Jones | It’s fun to lead a workshop full of religion people who know all they want to know about Facebook and Twitter and are ready to discuss other platforms. The reality of the religion...
View ArticleSharing the gospel and new media: Series introduction
By Nick Buck | The word “gospel” is an Old English term for “good news,” which is literally the meaning of the Greek word euangelion. The Second Testament begins with multiple versions of this good...
View ArticleSharing the gospel and new media: “Who does your use of new media say that I...
By Nick Buck | In all three synoptic Gospels (Matthew 16:15, Mark 8:29, and Luke 9:20) Jesus is recorded asking his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Their answer is overflowing with meaning,...
View ArticleSharing the gospel and new media: Prosperity posting
By Patton Dodd | Facebook makes the rich look really rich. It makes the poor feel really poor. And any Facebook user who cares about the poor (whether in spirit or material things) ought to be...
View ArticleSharing the gospel and new media: #freethegospel
By Keith Anderson | As a pastor my primary mission is to share the good news of God’s love in with as many people, in as many ways and in as many platforms as possible: church, coffee shops, pubs, the...
View ArticleSharing the gospel and new media: Encountering the good news in your newsfeed
By Sister Julie Vieira | Billboards and signs are all around us! On my short 1.7 mile commute each day I pass by a stream of messages advertising everything from hamburgers to deals on car insurance....
View ArticleSharing the gospel and new media: Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use...
By Nick Buck | Without question, doing ministry in the contemporary digital context can seem daunting. Seemingly every day something new arrives on the digital scene, and while new tools and features...
View ArticleOn the relationship between religion and technology: Quarrelling with Yuval...
By Nick Buck | Yuval Harari’s recent article in the New Statesman, “Salvation by algorithm: God, technology and the new 21st-century religions,” invites considerable reflection on questions about the...
View ArticleThe selfie, pt. I: What is it, really?
Often seen as evidence of overgrown narcissism at best and an indication of psychopathology at worst, it is worth considering an alternate way of understanding the phenomenon. It seems to me, rather,...
View ArticleThe selfie, pt. II: Digital presence
By Nick Buck | If I am at least partially correct about this, that some of the impulse for social media use is attributable to a socializing impulse felt most acutely by those who have become isolated,...
View ArticleDivided presence
Being with, or being present to, is essentially meaningful, attentive relating. As such, it is demanding on those of us who labor under the conditions of finitude. Our being is limited and can be...
View ArticleNew media materials
By Nick Buck | I recently had the pleasure of leading a workshop on behalf of the New Media Project, sponsored by the Center for Congregations and held at Christian Theological Seminary, on new media...
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