SimChurch author Douglas Estes, who participated in our Cyberchurch Symposium earlier this year, suggested the 1985 date for the origin of virtual online church. I asked him about it recently and he responded: “Andrew, Thanks for blogging about SimChurch and taking part in the blog tour. Your question was, “Can you elaborate on the date…
Read MoreHow To Worship (video)
Alan Hirsch just saw this video played at a pentecostal church conference in Canada and I thought it funny enough to post here. And if you like the video, you might appreciate my old post on The Art of Not Getting Embarrassed at a Baptist Church. how to worship
Read MoreSimChurch
Douglas Estes releases his book SimChurch which deals with virtual communities and cyberchurch. Douglas came over to London for our Cyberchurch Symposium earlier in the year. Its a good book and a helpful addition to the literature, of which there isn’t a whole lot. A blog tour is connected to the book. Start with Cynthia.…
Read MoreThe Nines Event for International Viewers
[Screen removed] The Nines is an online event that happens today, which, in case you didn’t realize, is 09/09/09. Leadership Network and Catalyst are behind this FREE event. They have selected a large number of well known speakers and leaders from churches around USA. “THE NINES is a free one-day event that will take place…
Read MoreTop 100 Church Blogs
TOP 100 CHURCH BLOGS (as of September 4, 2009)
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The 1% Clergical Elite and the 10% Cultural Creative Leadership
John La Grou was talking recently about a 1% ecclesial elite and the 10% cultural creatives in the church world. I asked him to elaborate and thus a new blog post this morning. “The emergence of virtual community, the virtual ecclesia, will radically change global religion in part because creatives-of-faith now have direct access to…
Read MoreLoving the Church but Hating the Book
Bill Kinnon restores the art of writing a review on a book that you dont like. This has been a big issue for me. I am often sent rubbish books and I would rather not say anything at all than put up yet another negative review and have everyone mad at me. But maybe if…
Read More100 Incredible Philanthropy Blogs
A list of 100 Incredible Philanthropy blogs has just been released. They kindly sent me an email to tell my that my blog was on the list. Thanks!!!! I am listed under the ‘faith based philanthropy’ section along with some other blogs that are worth checking out. A blog that should have been on that…
Read MoreThe Virtual Church: Keeping it Real
Today is Mass Blogging Day which has nothing at all to do with a virtual Roman Catholic eucharist but rather is about a number of bloggers writing today about the Web, and in particular its relation to church and mission. Many of us are meeting in LA in September at the Christian Web Conference. Actually,…
Read MoreBook: The Rabbit and the Elephant
Nice cover! New book called The Rabbit and the Elephant: Why Small is the New Big for Today's Church, by my good friends Tony and Felicity Dale of simplechurch and house2house. George Barna also throws in some thoughts and corresponding numbers to back them. The title reminds me of the Starfish and the Spider, or…
Read MoreCriticism of Virtual Community and Cyber churches
Is the cyber-church a REAL church? I was studying and writing last weekend on virtual communities for a number of articles and also for speaking in Las Angeles next September at the Christian Web Conference. There are lots of arguments against virtual communities being “real” but there one quote that is probably the most comprehensive…
Read MoreCyberchurch: When I went head to head with the Bishop of London
As preparation for our Cyberchurch Symposium this month, I posted a screencapture video of the opening day at the Church of Fools (2004) when I approached the holy of holies and went head to head with the Bishop of London. I knew the Bishop and I would always see eye to eye on this kind…
Read MoreIs the Virtual Church a REAL Church?
Douglas Estes, one of the participants of yesterday’s Cyberchurch Symposium, and who managed to get lost in London twice during our walk [must be a curious fellow] is releasing a book on the Cyberchurch in a few months. He interviewed me for the book and a few questions I just dug up from an old…
Read MoreHow To Gate-crash a Cyberchurch Service and Take Over the Pulpit.
This Saturday, leaders of online faith communities come together for a Symposium in London. I am hosting the event, actually, In preparation, I thought I would upload a video of my time at Church of Fools, a cyberchurch experience which would later would lead to St Pixels Church. It was 2004, opening day, and I…
Read MoreVirtual Church in the 1940’s
I haven’t had much time to blog or chat in the last week but I did listen in to one chat – the interesting conversation that Shane Hipps ignited during the week about virtual communities through his video. Especially relevant to me because we are less than one month away from the Cyberchurch Symposium in…
Read MoreCyberchurch and Online-Church Symposium
Invitations go out tomorrow for an informal meeting with creators of cyberchurch and online church communities. So far, we have verbal commitments from Church of Fools/St Pixels, I-Church and Bobby Gruenwald from the Lifechurch.tv online community in Second Life, as well as a few published experts on the topic. Should be a really good time.…
Read MoreGordon Cosby and Church of the Saviour.
“[Gordon] and his wife, Mary, began to craft an unusual church structure: Members had to commit to an inward journey of daily quiet prayer, meditation and courses on Christianity as well as an outward journey of social justice work. People would be held accountable by working in small groups.” Washington Post That was 60 years…
Read MoreRecession: The Carnival is Over
Really helpful discussion in the comments of the previous post [Recession: How bad is it?] about the recession and how its affecting our non-profits and ministries. I want to continue it here by picking up on some of the comments and questions that have emerged. Its obvious that the recession is having a huge impact…
Read MoreRecession: How Bad Is It?
Is the recession kicking your butt around like it is mine? Most of our ministry proposals for 2009 were regretfully turned down. That means there are networks and movements in over a dozen countries that we will not be able to support financially next year. It also means we need to tighten our belts and…
Read MorePentecostals and the Emerging Church
Why were Pentecostals were ignored in the early emerging church movement? My Assembly of God friend Earl has some answers in his article Can We Be Pentecostal and Emergent? Reason Number One: “Origins: Early and influential EmChurch authors, webbers, and speakers were almost all from outside the P/C [Pentecostal] movement. Many were Reformed. Lots of…
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