Well, it’s been two years since we began the NewLife blog, so I’d like to take a moment to reflect on how God has used this method of communication and invite feedback from you on what you perceive as its strengths and weaknesses.
My purpose from the beginning with this space was to spend time once a week reflecting theologically on something I had observed, either in the church or the culture. The blog was meant to be different than my sermons, where I typically begin with a passage of Scripture and then try to discuss both its original meaning and what it means for us today. The blog, on the other hand, was meant to begin with an issue in the world and then to discuss what the Bible has to say about it. I think both skills – being able to evaluate the world by Scripture, and being able to interpret and expound the Bible – are vitally important for a Christian.
Blogging has been very rewarding for me precisely because I am not by nature a reflective person. I’m the type of person who can coast through my day without ever stopping to think, reflect, or consider what I’m doing, and that’s always been a weakness of mine. The blog has forced me to stop and consider what I think about issues such as churches spending money on buildings, or the seeker-sensitive movement, or the things we often value above God as Americans. As a result, it’s helped me to become a more critical thinker as I try to follow Jesus in the world and lead our church.
Of course, blogging every week is also incredibly challenging (it gives me a great level of respect for newspaper columnists). Reflecting theologically on something means doing a good deal of research, both on the topic and on the relevant Biblical passages, and then organizing my thoughts in a (hopefully) interesting way is not easy. For this reason, I would encourage the members of NewLife, that if you ever have something you would like to share in this space on a one-time or regular basis, please talk to me! It would be great to hear from some other voices in the church.
A couple more thoughts as I reflect on the past year of the Pulse:
- Have you ever said or thought something that, when you looked back a year or two later, you can’t believe you said or thought? I’m sure we all have. The crazy thing about the internet, of course, is that the things you write two years ago are there to stay, FOREVER, for everyone to read! No pressure or anything… it’s just humbling (or agonizing at times) to look back at things I wrote a year or two ago and know that I would probably say things differently today.
- One big question has always been who to write this for. Am I writing primarily for the people in our church? Or, because this is on our website, is this primarily for those outside the church who are checking out NewLife to see if it’s the type of church they want to attend? I feel like initially, I wrote more for the second group, but lately, I’ve written more for believers.
So, as I celebrate the second anniversary of the NewLife blog, I would love to hear some feedback from you. What have been your perceptions? What has been helpful to your faith? What do you think could be done differently? Do you have any issues or topics upon which you wish I would do some theological reflecting? If you have anything to share, please post a comment so that this space can hopefully continue to encourage people towards Jesus.
Write a comment