Blogging and Spiritual Formation...

I would love to get everyone's thoughts on the role that blogging and other forms of online communication that are more detailed (not necessarily Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.) can be used for Outreach and Spiritual Formation.

For example, beginning this next week I am teaching a class on Luke-Acts. We are going to do a survey of these two books under the themes of Trinity, Gospel, Community, and Mission. My church is in no way explicitly missional (99% have never even heard the word) and yet that is how I intend to shape them (without using the word).

Obviously in a class on that scope (25% of the New Testament in 13 weeks) I can't cover everything so I am blogging on the church's website 6 days a week and on Sundays am posting the slides, handout, and audio of the class. This has two purposes:

(1) People attempting to study Luke or Acts may be pointed to our website and thus to our church.
(2) It is a completely non-threatening atmosphere for people to learn and engage in conversation.
(3) It is always available! Someone can read through the books of Luke-Acts whenever in the future and use those materials.

You can see how it is setup by going first to http://www.nwcofc.com and clicking on the info at the bottom of the page. You can then view the whole blog series as it appears at http://www.nwcofc.com/bible-studies.

How can we best use blogging for outreach and spiritual formation? Your thoughts...

Tags: blogging, formation, luke-acts, outreach, spiritual

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lynn S. Nored on December 4, 2008 at 11:11am: Mike,

I believe you well be well served by using a blog and/or discussion group for your class. I just finisihed a college credit class on Postmodern Evangelism at South Pacific Bible College with a required blog discussion group. You can view responses at www.postmodernevangelism.blogspot.com. I did not post content on the blog as I did this on an internal network. I believe the learning was inhanced. I am on the board of trustees at Institue of Theology and Christian Missions ( St. Petersburg) with Tom Olbricht who has also used this in classes effectlvely..

I will be teaching a teacher prep class and a class on Why Do We Do Church The Way We Do Church Jan-April. I have set up a discussion group on the Missioanl Outreach Network for all of the classes at the congregation. It will be interesting to see how this works for the entire congregation. Each teacher is free to present the material the way that is best for him as well as add/emphasize as he sees fit. I may post my personal slides and research as well under a blog for presentation of additional content also.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by James Nored on December 11, 2008 at 3:43pm: Michael, one way to draw attention to your blog is to quote from it during class or when in front of the congregation. I'm doing this in sermons, which really helps raise awareness of the site/blog. We often think about the web promoting people people attending worship. However, the reverse can be true as well. The assembly/public gatherings can be used to promote the web.

Have you tried something like this before?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ryan Parsons on March 7, 2009 at 4:02pm: Hello Michael,

I have been asking a lot of the same questions and as a result have developed something called Church Blog Theory.
CBT focuses around 2 major things.
1. Putting the truth on the internet for all to find.
2. Using blogs as a foundation for Christians to begin conversations with their friends, family, neighbors and co-workers about Jesus Christ.

I would love for you to check it out and let me know what you think.

Church Blog Theory

Obligated to Him,
Ryan Parsons; ▶ Reply to This