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Ministers cautiously embrace blogging

Kiwi Presbyterian ministers are venturing into the blogsphere, posting thoughts and sermons online on dedicated websites.

Blogs are online diaries on which readers can post comments, with an exponential growth in their popularity meaning more than 100 million blogs are now in existence worldwide.

They’ve become increasingly popular in theological circles. “It’s a forum for interaction,” the Rev Fyfe Blair says.

The minister of Highgate Presbyterian Church, in Dunedin, Fyfe started blogging shortly after he came to New Zealand from Scotland in 2004.

“When I started, I wanted it to be a reflection on some of the things I was engaged in, in mission.

“It was also a means to keep in touch with people in Scotland and elsewhere,” he says.

His Beyond Flatland site – the name comes from a book by a 19th century mathematician – at fyfeblair.blogspot.com was set up using a free template and Fyfe uses the site to put Highgate’s special services online as well as
his reflections.

“It’s not a diary, though. I’m not into that,” he says.

The Rev Martin Stewart, minister of St Stephen’s Church, Fendalton, Christchurch, has a blog at marttherev.blogspot.com

Martin says he used to send out a weekly email, from which he got “a lot more feedback”, but switched to blogging as a “less intrusive” medium.

“It’s a good way of articulating things that are going on and influencing you,” he says of blogging.

Like Fyfe, he uses Blogspot.

“Blogspot is the best one. It’s free and has a variety of templates and it’s very simple to use.”

Marttherev has links to other blogs and websites, including that of St Stephen’s.

“Most weeks, my sermon goes on the church website,” he says.

With most ministers using the three-year lectionary, reading sermons others have posted is a useful tool in getting a new angle on a Biblical text, he says, adding that he hopes his contributions will help other ministers.

Other links include one to the Naked Pastor, whose transparency is breath-taking. “He just spills the beans on what he’s thinking,” Martin says.

For “emergent church stuff” that generates a lot of interaction, he recommends Baptist minister Steve Taylor’s site at www.emergentkiwi.org.nz

Of his own approach, Martin says: “I’m a bit nervous about the amount of private information that I release on the web, including opinions that are still being formed.”

And unlike the email newsletter, he has “absolutely no idea” how many people read it.

As Fyfe observes, blogs are not without
their dangers.

“With some blogs, people decide to call it a day, I think because it can start to drive and consume them.

“The real danger is it can take you away from doing things that are core to ministry,” he says.

Mr Stewart agrees, adding that people who want to use a blog as a mission tool need to consider the time involved.

“The more people interact, the more it [your blog site] is going to come up on Google.

“If people are interacting and you don’t respond, they’ll be annoyed.

“Have you got time to respond?”

Want to check out some other blogs? Go to www.futurechurch.org.nz which has links to more than a dozen and also instructions for setting up your own blog.

By Gillian Vines