Welcome everyone to the new online face of our Church's English Congregation!
The concept of 'place' is an interesting one. Now you might think to yourself that a place isn't a concept - that is a physical thing, a location. This is more or less true but for lack of better words, places are really just the areas in which we spend our time. They are the locations in which we grace with our presence.
Scripture teaches us that no matter where we are and no matter what we do, worship is our Christian endeavour. The classic verse contributing to this view would be Romans 12:1, (Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.) with the idea that worship is not confined to our formal Sunday service. Worship is the spiritual sacrifices of our bodies, our lives, as a response to great mercy God has shown us in Christ.
If you're following along with the train of thought here, the Bible calls on us to be worshippers of God, regardless of our 'place'. If we stretch our idea of place to exist beyond our physical location, then it stands to reason that we might consider the internet a 'place' as much as we would any other. The internet, in being a virtual world, allows this strange phenomenon where we might be in two places at once. On one hand sitting in our study's or bedrooms on our computers, while on the other, in our inboxes, on Facebook or simply cruising different websites and pages.
Though it has no physical substance, our presence on the various forms of 'the internet' should reflect our theology and concept of worship like all others. This puts on us as Christians a responsibility, to be mindful of our hands, our thoughts and our speech as we view and interact with the content, people and communities that we absorb and interact with.
My point in this though is not to challenge us in the holiness of how we behave online, (though this is an important issue we may touch on in the future) but ratherto present to you the reasoning behind this new website.
As a place that we spend our time, the internet is as good and significant as any other place to be engaged in and committed to ministry. The question of how to do ministry on the web is a complex one, however it is the aim of this site to be presenters of faithful Christian content examining the intersection of scripture with our everyday lives.
It is the hope and prayer of this ministry that as we write, and as you read, we might all be challenged, convicted and changed in the Christ like manner of our living.