The Shrinking Planet

Rob Reardon wonders about virtual community

Today, I had separate online conversations with people in India, Australia and Canada. These days, however, that’s not too hard to comprehend. After all, with the proliferation of VoIP and Instant Messaging, it has never been easier to communicate globally. In an instant, we can talk to one another like we’re in the next room or at least across town.

No longer are these communication tools used exclusively by computer geeks and video gamers. This new wave of communication ease is being utilized by world leaders - political, religious and everything in between. President Barack Obama is ruffling feathers in the news media industry by vowing to use YouTube regularly to communicate with the American public.

Not to be outdone, Pope Benedict has authorized the use of an official Vatican YouTube page that promises to offer daily news updates of “the main activities of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI and of relevant Vatican events.”

With such communication advances, it would be tempting to rely heavily on a technochat form of communication within the church community. After all, event and program announcements can be sent to the masses through Facebook groups and e-mail lists. If someone happens to miss the sermon on Sunday, getting caught up is only a podcast away. But in doing church this way, we miss an important part of being in community.

We are encouraged through Hebrews 10:24-25 to “consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another…”. In Colossians and Ephesians the encouragement is given to communicate face-to-face through psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Such communication would be difficult, if not impossible through a webcam.

Writer: Capt. Rob Reardon is an officer of the USA Western Territory currently serving at the USA National Headquarters in the Business Department. While youth ministry and discipleship are his passion, he is willingly taking a sojourn into the dark recesses of business administration. On good days he can be found cultivating relationships over a good cup of java. On bad days he fights the urge to tumble into a deep depression due to the performance (or lack thereof) of his favorite sports teams. Every day he is in his element loving and enjoying God, his family and the life he has been blessed with.

Tags: communication, Youtube

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