Transcript Lessons from the Postmodern Web

Lessons from
the Postmodern Web
Paul Kulp, PhD
Web Services Group
Introduction
• The Church has adapted new forms in
response to the shifts of postmodern
culture.
• Some of these new forms are making
effective use of the web in ways that we
can all learn from.
FYI
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This is an interactive seminar
So ask questions
Please
U don’t want to listen to me the whole time
• PPT slides and list of presentation URLs
at www.paulkulp.com
About Me
• 10 yrs working with the web
www.wsg.net
• 10 yrs working with Gospelcom members
& websites
• 2 yrs in emerging church
www.noshoesrequired.org
• Postmodern?
About You?
• Take away?
• How postmodern are you?
Your organization?
• “postmodern” beliefs?
Postmodern slices
• Postmodernism is the cultural worldview that now
penetrates and owns our society.
• This worldview deeply values the following: spirituality,
pluralism, the experiential, relativity, altruism, community,
creativity, the arts, environmentalism, globality, holism,
and authenticity.
• In many ways we are transitioning away from the
"modern" values of rationalism, science, dogmatism,
individualism, pragmatism, capitalism, nationalism,
compartmentalism, and veneered religiosity.
» http://www.mosaicfw.org/
Postmodern slices
• We are witnessing a broad based backlash
against reason in our culture.
• Rejecting objective truth is the cornerstone of
postmodernism.
• … postmodernists reject the whole language of
truth and reality in favor of literary terms like
narrative and story. It's all about interpretation,
not about what's real or true.
» Postmodernism: The 'Spirit of the Age', By Jim Leffel
Postmodern slices
• … This openness to postmodern ideas
makes many conservative Christians
nervous. Indeed, the postmodern set often
criticizes aspects of evangelical culture,
and the pomo vocabulary sounds
impenetrable to evangelicals' ears.
» Christianity Today
Postmodern slices
• The postmodern cultural context is very similar to that of
the New Testament. Therefore we believe that God's
message will not only survive, but will thrive in this
cultural milieu.
• Moreover, since many of these values are intrinsic to the
Christian worldview, the church can use them as a
bridge to our culture and society.
• We also understand and affirm that some postmodern
values and ideas are in dynamic tension with
Christianity, and we seek to gently but firmly challenge
these, both in ourselves and in our culture
» Mosaic Fort Worth
» http://www.mosaicfw.org/
Postmodern slices
• Modernism changed the world. Nothing
can take us back to the way it was before.
…
• … Because of modernism—the naïve
thinking that assumes that if, without God,
we just keep applying reason, we can get
to the bottom of everything—we think
differently, we experience relationships
differently.
» Chris Simmons in Christianity Today
Postmodern slices
• … postmodernism claims that modernism is over and
something new is happening. One aspect of this vague
new thing is an increased hunger for spirituality.
• What has been a persistent trickle of "new age" interest
for a few decades has now broadened into a stream and
includes people for whom the usual "new agey" forms
are too foreign.
• They want to be spiritual in a way that is somewhat
Christian, but they are allergic to the idea of biblical truth
and don't want to be told God's views on sin and
morality.
» Frederica Mathewes-Green in Christianity Today
Postmodern slices
That which is, already has been
That which is to be, already is
and God seeks out what has gone by.
» Ecclesiastes 3:15 (NRSV)
Postmodern Web
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Same technology?
Different worldview?
Different objectives?
Different audience?
What can we learn?
#1: Interest trumps presentation
• The look matters, but not as much as the
content
ex. hollywoodjesus, google groups, blogs
• I’ll go to the ugliest site in the world if it has
what I’m looking for.
• If it interests me, I might stick around.
• What are people looking for?
Does my website offer anything that
anyone wants to read?
#1: Interest trumps
presentation…
• Searching for the questions
• What are people looking for?
– Google like God?
– Tune for questions
#2: Building villages, not castles
• Modernity likes castles
• Towering websites stand as emblems of the
corporate identity. Projection of size and power,
strength, structure, etc.
• Postmoderns view corporations as impersonal,
aggressive, selfish, evil entities set only on their
own gain.
Why do we want to look like that?
• ex. www.ginkworld.net (interior)
#2: Build villages, not castles…
• Corporate vs. Communal
• Statements developed by committee, lack power,
grace, authenticity. Careful “official” language
comes off cold and sterile – or commercial. Monopersonality turns inert/cold.
ex. www.ginkworld.net (intro statement)
• Sometimes when we work to preserve the
corporate identity, the message gets cropped.
• Consider small footprint websites with a distributed
common message. Lots of them.
• Blog villages? www.emergingchurch.info/blogs/
#3: Share your toys
• Linking to related sites, even
“competitors”. Everyone benefits from the
cross traffic & SEO promotion.
• A link is not an endorsement, it’s a service.
ex. www.emergentvillage.com
=> Communicate => Emergent Web
• Encourage Freelance Cooperation
#3: Share your toys…
• Share the spotlight
– Turn your customers into evangelists
(sharing spotlight, building relationship)
ex. www.relevantmagazine.com
• Traffic sharing
– Generous cross linking
– Practical coordination
• Resource sharing
– Worship ideas/visuals
– Free graphics
– Give-away media?
#3: Share your toys…
• What contributions are accepted?
– Money? Time? Art? Words? Thoughts?
• Sharing media, creative production
ex. www.emergingminister.com
videos, graphics, etc
#4: Metaphor clarifies
• Why does everyone use “cart” or “basket”
metaphors?
• The modern world was organized with
“vision statements”.
The postmodern world prefers metaphor.
• What metaphor(s) do you use to describe
your web efforts?
How does it drive your decisions?
– Example: technology as gasoline
conserve, too much can burn, not all at once, work horse
#4: Metaphor clarifies…
• Metaphor will prove the primary voice for
the future church.
• Something big is happening. Bigger than
what we're doing. Bigger than what we're
predicting. We can't see where it's leading
us, but we can certainly see "We're not in
Kansas anymore.“
. . . or in "Christendom."
» Dr. Thomas Hohstadt
www.futurechurch.net
#4: Metaphor clarifies…
• Competing web metaphors
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edifice vs meeting place
image vs statement
engage vs proclaim
enable vs enforce
coordinate vs project
belong vs believe
committee vs community
join us vs. support us
pulpit vs. couch
#5: Many strands, One thread
– Many authors, many people points
• ex. Thousands of bloggers discussing the
emergent church.
– Encourage networks of sites that further your
mission. Get new ones started, link to them,
(occasionally) share the spotlight with them
(blog of the week).
– Cultivate many authors – may they grow like
weeds
• ex. www.thinkchristian.net
#6: Open is more appealing
– Postmodern types are very sensitive to closeminded people. Unfortunate Christian
stereotype that they are all “close-minded”
and think they’re always right.
• ex. Planning blogs – open source planning
– Don’t live up to the stereotypes.
– Closed minds make closed ears.
#7: Authentic is the real thing
– Our culture bombarded us with fake.
Everything is made up, retouched, covered
over & color corrected.
– None of us has it all together, none of our
organizations have it right all the time.
– Let God be god and admit that we are only
human.
#8: There is always another
point of view
• Your perspective doesn’t matter
because…
• Seek out the perspective of those with
very different viewpoints.
• What is your most hostile audience?
– What ammunition do you give them?
– What criticisms have value?
– What would you most like to say to them?
ex. response to critics of emergent
#9: Community by connections
• Web as a meeting place
– Meeting with a common purpose =>
Community?
– Planning meetings
• Use your website to connect your whole
staff to your mission
multiple people threads (not just web dept)
• When in doubt, do what you love
– Focus on areas and topics that interest you &
your staff – most benefit, authenticity
#10: Learn the language
• Things are not always what they seem
– Moderns convince through logic & reason.
– Postmoderns will often take the most
obnoxious opposing position so they can
observe your reaction & defense.
– Cultivate open environments where offenders
are treated with grace and care, rather than
vitriol. Mind the lurkers.
– The most vehement arguers are sometimes
close to a change.
Give them a dignified “path to belief”.
The Argument
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Man: I came here for a good argument.
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Arguer: No you didn't, you came here for an argument.
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Man: Well, an argument isn’t just contradiction.
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Arguer: It can be.
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Man: No it can't. An argument is a connected series of statements intended
to establish a proposition.
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Arguer: No it isn't.
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Man: Yes it is. It’s not just contradiction.
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Arguer : Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position.
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Man: But it isn't just saying "No it isn't".
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Arguer : Yes it is.
» Monty Python
http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/sn-python.html
#10: Learn the language…
• Careful confrontation
– Christ-like dialog
– No flame-baiting
• Plainer language
• If it doesn’t matter, don’t endorse it
(politics?)
• more entry paths
– paths to belief
Opportunity or
Responsibility?
“This is just a culture
like any other
culture in which
God’s people have
lived and our job
now is to be faithful
in this changing
circumstance.”
Wittenburg Door, Sept 2005
Interest in spirituality
• “Do you feel the need to experience
spiritual growth in the next year, or
not?”
• 1994: 58% of Americans said “yes”
• 2005: 78% of Americans said “yes”
• ex. www.technorati.com
“We’re on a mission from God”
We practice our faith missionally – that is, we do not isolate
ourselves from this world, but rather, we follow Christ
into the world.
We believe the church exists for the benefit and blessing of
the world at large; we seek therefore not to be blessed to
the exclusion of everyone else, but rather for the benefit
of everyone else.
We see the earth and all it contains as God’s beloved
creation, and so we join God in seeking its good, its
healing, and its blessing.
http://www.emergentvillage.com
http://www.worldonfire.ca
What about Gospelcom?
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More “small” organizations
Different image of a “member”
More cooperative atmosphere
More blogs?
Questions?
• Email: [email protected]
• PPT & links at www.paulkulp.com