Inviting the Commentary Culture

Words Man - A minister and his books are seldom parted, via ASBO JesusWas over looking at the older posts at ABSO Jesus recently and came across the link to another pastor’s website. He wrote this great post on the type of culture that we now have an opportunity to foster with the communication tools that we have available (Internet, social networks, etc). He calls it a Commentary Culture and I would totally vouch for seeing more of these. Here’s a snippet of the post:

…There was a time when the sermon was kept under wraps until the moment when, like a new car at a motor show, it was revealed with a flourish. Our particular sermon has emerged from an  online conversation which has grown during the week. On Monday, the preacher sent a message out across the social networking landscape to say what he was working on and to ask for prayer. By Wednesday the prayer request had turned into a resource enquiry – asking where a particular illustration could be found. By Friday that illustration had indeed been found, but replaced by another one, far more suitable. By Saturday, fellow preachers had been shown an outline of the material for their own consumption, or as an aid to their prayer. On Sunday, the sermon is preached…

Read the rest of A Commentary Culture at Richard Littledale’s Preacher’s A – Z

What are your thoughts? Does mobile/web invite a commentary culture or would you rather keep the conversation behind sermon prep behind closed doors and next to large libraries?

  • Thanks for the link. The post certainly seems to have got people thinking – which was always the intention!

  • Thanks for the link. The post certainly seems to have got people thinking – which was always the intention!

  • Thank you for the post. It’s encouraging seeing pastors think more about the implications of digital tech on faith and community. We need these kinds of questions and explorations, especially from the pastorate.

  • Thank you for the post. It’s encouraging seeing pastors think more about the implications of digital tech on faith and community. We need these kinds of questions and explorations, especially from the pastorate.

  • Have now written a further development of this discussion entitled :digital fellowship (II) – circular preaching. Seems to be prompting some interesting debate:http://wp.me/pF9OB-px

  • Have now written a further development of this discussion entitled :digital fellowship (II) – circular preaching. Seems to be prompting some interesting debate:http://wp.me/pF9OB-px