None of the lines outside apply: Strengthening community using online means of connectivity.

摘要

This project thesis addresses means of deepening and strengthening community life by using online connectional applications. This project further explores the different ways various religious organizations have grappled with new technologies that offer online connectivity as well as the biblical and theological bases for doing this kind of community building work.;The ministry context for this work is a Presbyterian parish that highly values new ways to embody God's welcoming inclusivity in its common life and in the world. Because of changes in the lives of its members and friends, which mean they must be away from the physical church campus more frequently than in the past, individuals had begun to ask whether there might be ways for them to share---even if it was after the fact or from a different location---in some of what they were missing.;Three important methodological choices govern this project. First, open-ended narrative surveys, followed by more in-depth interviews with selected individuals, would be used as the way to determine both the choice of and success with various kinds of online connectivity. Second, the LAC would work together using a weblike, collaborative approach rather than a cooperative one, allowing us to be open to and taught by the ongoing stories and feedback that those using the new connectivity tools would give us. Third, since both online connectivity and the congregation were both always changing, we would think in terms of small plans rather than long-range planning. The online connectivity work would be done piecemeal.;The project demonstrates the ways in which patterns of diffusion of innovation affect online connectivity as it becomes part of an organization's life. It also analyzes the role that generational issues play in both how and the pace at which online connectivity can deepen, broaden, and strengthen congregational life.