Chris Brogan, a social media blogger, recently posted on the difference between an audience and a community. He writes:

The difference between an audience and a community is which direction the chairs are pointing. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. When we say community and we mean our selling demographic, that’s not the same thing. When we say community and we mean audience to absorb our message, that’s not the same thing. It’s important to understand this.

It’s okay to want an audience. When we’re trying to build awareness, we want an audience. We create things to get people’s attention. For some, the creation is advertising. For others, it’s face to face events. For others, it’s content (like this blog post). If you’re clever, you create in a variety of formats.

This builds audience. Audiences are those folks who gather to hear what you have to say. But that’s not a community.

Jesus often attracted large audiences. But He attracted most of them outside of synagogues, and He attracted nonbelievers. He met with believers, primarily His disciples, in more intimate settings. The church today seems to have this backwards. We make believers our audiences, and hang out in homes and more intimate settings with our non-believing friends. There is definitely room for having audiences of believers, but this is certainly not the primary gathering method, nor should it be the central financial focus.

Are churches today doing more to build communities or audiences? What do architecture, format, and seating arrangements have to do with it? How can these be changed to create a community instead of an audience?

Yesterday I posted a video that talks about the Web 2.0 phenomenon. Since many are confused as to what Web 2.0 is, I offer a great definition from Stilton Studios’ glossary of terms:

Web 2.0 is a trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to facilitate creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users. These concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies (the practice of categorizing content through tags). Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the internet.

Three terms that jump out at me are “collaboration”, “communities”, and “social-networking”. These three terms define Web 2.0 fairly well. prayeramedic.com is a blog that will discuss how revolutionary change within our culture, such as Web 2.0, affects our concept of community and Christianity in general. I have dubbed this transformation “Christianity 2.0,” that is, the emerging technological movement within the culture that changes the parameters of social interaction in our faith. As a young adult, I offer you a perspective on Christianity and church from a generation that has all but disappeared from both. This is a forum for people of all ages to discuss this transformation and learn from one another.

prayeramedic.com wants to help you make sense of the emerging technological movements in our world today that are reshaping and defining social interaction and what it means to be in community, both areas in which Christians should be known for leading lasting change. We cannot stand by and let an entire generation slip out of the church’s fingers because it is unable to relate to them. We also cannot afford to completely compromise to cultural standards and allow culture to dictate how we “do church.” We must emerge as leaders in social networking, and set the standards for how community can exist in a Web 2.0 world, with Christ at it’s center.

Why does any of this matter to me as a Christian?

All the believers were together and had everything in common. (Acts 2:44, NIV)

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25, NIV)

The older women. . . can train the younger women. . . . Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. . . . (Titus 2:3-7, NIV)

There are numerous passages of scripture dealing with the need for community and fellowship amongst believers. We must encourage, teach, rebuke, guide, and train one another. In yesterday’s post about the anthropology of Web 2.0, I posed the question, “In a cultural context that continuously values individuality, could Web 2.0 have something to do with a longing within each of us for community and collectivism?” I would assert that that’s exactly what it’s about, and as Christians it is vital for us to be leaders in this emergent form of community.

I cited Titus 2 because it is crucial for older and more mature believers to embrace the Christianity 2.0 community so that they can mold and help mature it. If the only people who embrace this cultural shift are young adults, then we will look to each other’s input to grow and mature. Wouldn’t it be so great if older and more mature individuals were contributing valuable input to the community? Not only is this a great idea, it’s necessary for optimal growth!

The Greek word from which we get our English word “church” is ἐκκλησία (ekklesia). This word literally means “called out ones”, and in ancient times was used to denote an “assembly, congregation, or council.” Even the word itself invites us to be “called out ones” in a new and exciting age where we can embrace and shape the early foundations of Christianity 2.0.

So What Can I Do?
At this point you might be saying to yourself, “Well that’s all fine and dandy, but I have no clue how to even begin with Web 2.0. How am I supposed to relate to this generation and keep up with all this technology?” It may seem overwhelming at first, but it’s really not too bad. My first recommendation is to get young adults in your church involved. They will probably be your subject matter experts on this stuff. Here are four things every church should have, that give you at least a basic presence in the Web 2.0 world:

1. A web site that has pictures of your worship experience and a design theme that captures the atmosphere of your church, with at least one element of dynamic content. A static page is one that is rarely changed or updated, such as a biography of your church. A dynamic page continually features new content, such as a church events calendar. This is actually really simple and cheap to do using vCHURCHES if you don’t have the money to drop on a custom design. I know several pastors in their 30’s – 50’s who are able to maintain very relevant websites using this tool, who had little to no technical background to begin with.
2. A church blog (linked to or incorporated into your web site), or blogs for various lead staff members of the church. There are tons of free blogging platforms for you to get started with such as WordPress, Blogger, or LiveJournal.
3. A Myspace or Facebook account (preferably both, with links to and from your web site). Not only can you have a main profile for your church, individual ministries within the church can have their own profiles as well with custom themes best portraying their unique attributes. Be sure to add all of your sub-profiles to your top friends!
4. A lead staff member who regularly checks, updates, and maintains the three above-mentioned items. I cannot emphasize this one enough. DO NOT rely on a volunteer to handle all of this. You must be sure this becomes the responsibility of someone on the payroll. Too many web sites go stagnant when a young adult decides to leave a church or when an irresponsible youth inadvertently allows a spammer to get a hold of your Myspace profile and post links to pornographic websites on it.

For individuals, I recommend steps two and three for you. These are just a few suggestions to get you started in the Web 2.0 world, and to help you become a leader of lasting change in Christianity 2.0.

The church is rapidly evolving and becoming an organic network of communities, moving away from the traditional focus on a building and a local activity-oriented agenda. Change is being made towards a global and boundary-free approach to social networking, which is changing the way we “do church” and think about Christian community.

• What have you been doing in the Web 2.0 world?
• How can you share your faith with people you have never even met?
• What are some challenges to authenticity that are posed by a Web 2.0 world?
• What are some possibly unexplored new trails in the world of Christianity 2.0?

If you can set aside 55 minutes and 33 seconds, watch this video! This was on ProBlogger today. It really explains the Web 2.0 phenomenon and the anthropological significance of it. It’s NOT boring, check it out!

If you take the time to watch this, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Whether or not you watched the video, here are some questions to ponder:

• In a cultural context that continuously values individuality, could Web 2.0 have something to do with a longing within each of us for community and collectivism?
• What are some pro’s and con’s to this sort of community?
• Being that Web 2.0 incorporates text, video, photos, interactive applications, surveys, and more; what might Web 3.0 look like?
• How does Web 2.0 affect Christianity? Could we call the new internet phenomenon within the faith “Christianity 2.0?”