How did all this blogging come about?

Now that I have dipped my toe in with the blog I am reading “The Blogging Church” by Brian Bailey. 

What have I learned?

·         Blogging was created by programmers to allow them to share ideas on code and protocol with a wide range of like minded people. (p. 2)  It is a contraction of the term "web log".

 ·         Then wider ideas were being shared, stories, news, book and film reviews.

·         RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds meant that at a time when the email system was being drowned in spam and viruses and mass emails, blogs offered an alternative.  With Blogs the user is in control of what they do or don’t receive.  (p. 3)

·         The power of blogging was recognised with September 11 2001.  Major news websites were overwhelmed with the traffic. Mobile phone networks couldn’t cope with the load.  Suddenly unedited bloggers with digital cameras were on the same footing as professional journalists.

·         A year later racist comments in a television interview by American Republican Leader Trent Lott where ignored by reporters, but not by bloggers.  The expression of their concerns reached the mass media and led to the resignation of Lott fifteen days later. (pp. 4-5)

·         A number of other powerful political effects of blogging followed.

This is a huge change in the way our world operates.

The combination of rising mistrust with rising access has changed what we expect from organizations.  We want a relationship, a true conversation, not a one-way recitation of marketing brochures and talking points.  The result is that honesty and transparency are now valued above all else.  The desire is not for perfection but for openness.

Having an ongoing conversation with people, whether customers, members, or constituents, builds a relationship of trust and connectedness.  When an organization begins to share its story, including mistakes and missteps, people begin to feel a part of it.  Before long, they want to help write that story to tell others. (p8)

Chapter 2 is titled why blog, and the conclusion is:

·         Blogs are tools, not toys.

·         Blogs help solve real problems.

·         Blogs deliver a true return on ministry.

Blogs share the vision of the church, its identity, news and stories.

At the mention of ‘story’ I realised why blogging appeals to me so much.  I really relate to story.  I learn through story.  The bible stories are the building blocks of faith.

They tried to teach me history at school and I retained nothing.  Yet through watching marvellous films of history and reading stories of history I find I have learned much unawares.  Story gives me the fabric to attach the facts and figures to and gives them meaning.

‘The writer interweaves a story with his own doubts, questions, and values. That is art.’
Naguib Mahfouz

‘The inner spaces that a good story lets us enter are the old apartments of religion.’
John Updike

I love story and so my blog yesterday,  Handing Over A Church Website, created much more interest than the first two, because it was story and personal.