Bože! independent catholic ideas, identity & theology
OC/IC Online – Community
Suggest A Post
Blogging can often seem like a one way “broadcast”. The blogger writes up what interests him or her, posts it, and waits to see what happens. There are many posts, essays, books and articles out there advising bloggers on how to cultivate more engagement with their audience. I have even written a few posts encouraging [...]
The Church In Decline? Adapt Or Die
Decrying the decline of “christianity” in Britain has come from various angles over the past year or so. Church attendance is diminishing, its membership ageing. “Unbelief” appears to be growing. Though I would argue that it was always there and only now is it getting better, perhaps more accurate, press. Fifty percent of people living [...]
Social Media – A Reformation In Religious Participation?
A fascinating video from Religion & Ethics Newsweekly about how social media is changing the way we interact with our religious communities. What grabbed my attention was the comparison (towards the end) between the introduction of the printing press (a new technology), the reformation, and what might be happening in the life of Christian communities [...]
Does God-blogging Matter?
I unexpectedly fell into this post, which led me to this post and it made me stop and think for a moment. Does blogging matter? Should “every” Christian blog? I have been God-blogging now for four years (I have another non-theology blog too) and average just over 100 posts a year. I would like to [...]
It Came, It Went, And I Completely Missed it
I just realised this morning that we’ve been working on this project, we call the “Theo-blog” for four years and . . .one month (well 4 years, 1 month, and 3 days) now. Happy birthday blog! When I started this experiment back in April 2006 I never imagined that it would have the staying power [...]
Freak Show?
Reuters reports (Wed. 10 Feb 10) that the Synod of the Church of England criticised broadcasters – the BBC in particular – for the steep reduction in “religious broadcasting”. Claiming that this actively marginalises religion and treats religious programming as “freak shows”. I’m sitting here thinking about the report and a few things come to [...]
Fear & Friendship – Breaking Barriers of Isolation
We’ve often talked about the ideas and images of what constitutes “church” many converts to the indie life inherit or bring with them into the community. Tim Cravens has just posted a reflection on one aspect of this – the sense of embarrassment many indie clergy feel over not having our own buildings, salaried clergy [...]
It’s Good to Find the Overlooked . . .
Rummaging around PBS’ Religion & Ethics Newsweekly this morning I fell into this report from this past November exploring religion on-line that I had not previously seen. The report is interesting because it looks at a number of real-time examples of how more than 1 in 4 adults are now using the internet solely or [...]
Christ Is (Almost) Risen! – Oh Work With Me Jesus!
Huw, another OC/IC Easterner has created this wonderful compilation of Paschal Troparia – sit down, relax, and have a good giggle over it. Tweet
Web Church
I’ve stumbled across two articles this week related to Ekklesia 2.0 (a long running topic here) which are worth a read – and I hope, some discussion. The first is from Christian Today reporting on a recent meeting on “Web Church” such as St. Pixels a project of the Methodist Church in Britain, and iChurch [...]
Theo-Tweets
You may have noticed I’ve added a new page to the site? I’ve been seeing a number of ministry sources encouraging the use of social networking – especially Twitter. I’m not entirely convinced yet but I’m more than willing to give it a go: though I’m still reading to see if I can fully understand [...]
Making Our Voices Heard – OC/IC Blogging 101
I regularly rummage around the net looking for tips on better blogging. My thinking is, if this site is going to be a useful resource for the OC/IC community then I need to invest in making it as attractive and user friendly as possible. Most of the articles and sites I’ve read are designed for [...]
Week of Christian Unity 2009
Over the next week (18-25 Jan), Christians across the globe are praying for reconciliation and unity among believers. As I stumbled across this article (and this one) and the prayer specifically written for this year’s event (see below) – it made me think of Paul’s admonition to Timothy that a necessary quality of a leader/minister [...]
Cell Theory
Not entirely un-related to yesterday’s post from Emergent Village – I offer you this from the Guardian Belief section: It can’t be claimed that the tendency to break into regional or temperamental units has entirely vanished from contemporary Christianity, but it is easy to forget what a strange phenomenon the Christian church is in crossing [...]
Furthering Discussion – Shifting Sand, Raising the Level of Engagement
We’ve got a thread going talking about raising the level of identification within our community with our OC/IC tradition. I’ve been asking for your ideas – and look forward to hearing more of them. However, as I was making my “rounds” this afternoon it dawned on me that I’d not put A, and B, and [...]
Blog! Blog Now!
I have a confession to make – I would be in ecstasy if every individual OC/IC believer had a blog – and added something to it at least once every two weeks. My overarching reason stems from an idea that I’ve been banging on about for at least four years now that is the simple [...]
Movement Within The Movement: Common Cause At Christmas
There are various ways that we “commune” with people not physically present at liturgical celebrations – and by this I mean that we establish, or re-enforce our relationship with them – this is, afterall what sacramentalism is all about – connecting with another. Inspired by Jordan Stratford’s recent posting of the Advent Conspiracy vid on [...]
“Attack! Attack! . . . . hey, where did everybody go?
Matthew Streib writes a post worth reading here at SOMA – one that made me reflect on some of the methods of “outreach” I’ve witnessed in the OC/IC community over the years. “Be faithful” “Be church” – these are two phrases I’ve used off & on over the years to encourage people to simply be [...]
Ministry Online – Considering Ekklesia 2.0
Folks over at Church Marketing Sucks have produced a must read series of short articles on “community“. The third installment tackles ministry on the internet; here, the author Brad Abare recounts a comment by a conference participant who noted that the distinction between “online” and “offline” interaction is no longer relevant – that they are [...]