Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Youth Groups on Myspace

Pulse, the youth group I’m a leader of, has a myspace. A couple of weeks ago I handed responsibility for the Pulse myspace over to one of the youth group kids. However, I also drew up the few guidelines below about the purpose of the Pulse myspace. Does your youth group have a myspace? Why, why not? Has it been a good, bad, or indifferent experience?

Pulse Myspace Guidelines


The Purpose of Pulse Myspace


The Pulse myspace does not exist simply because it is the latest cool thing to do. Pirating music might be cool, but we don’t do that. Rather, the Pulse myspace exists for the specific purpose of supporting and building up Pulse. That is, the purpose of the Pulse myspace is to contribute to the goal of young people from Nowra becoming Christians and growing in Christian maturity. There are at least three ways the Pulse myspace can contribute to this goal.

1. To be an accurate reflection of the face-to-face Pulse community in the online world. Deep community and friendship is formed through relating and spending time with people face-to-face. Communication technologies such as the telephone, email, instant messaging, and the web can support, but not replace face-to- face friendships and community. Thus the Pulse myspace should not be something separate from other things Pulse does. Rather, the Pulse myspace should be an extension of who we are and what we do when we get together in person. A few of examples of what this practically this means are:
  • The Pulse myspace must be easily identified as Christian.

  • Pulse shouldn’t be listed as male or female, because we are not a single sex group. Nor should the myspace look really ‘boyish’ or really ‘girlish’.

  • People who request to be friends, but who are not part of Pulse or the Nowra Baptist Church community should be denied (we are not trying to start a separate online community).

  • If photos, videos, or quotes from Pulse are used, they must be used to build up and encourage, not to tear down or ridicule.

  • Any comments left on the page, which are not appropriate, should be deleted.


2. To direct interested people back to the main Pulse website. The main Pulse website (http://youth.nowrabaptist.asn.au) is the source of all up to date and detailed information about Pulse. The Pulse myspace should not try to duplicate the main Pulse site. Rather than list lots of details, the Pulse myspace should simply tell people what Pulse is, who it is for, and that they can find more info at the main Pulse site.

3. To help those who are part of Pulse and Nowra Baptist Church express their Christian faith online. It’s easy to pretend to be someone you are not online. However, Christians must be truthful and authentic in the online world as much as the offline world. The Pulse myspace hopes to make it easy for those who are part of Pulse, and have their own myspace, to declare their involvement in a Christian group. This may be done through the myspace ‘friends’ system, leaving comments, etc.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

the ninja turtles blog

Check out the boys at the ninja turtles blog. Here's their bio:
the ninja turtles are a group of guys living in sydney who have joined forces to fight against the sin of boring people with Christ.
Good aim... with links to some good resources.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

He's on a musical mission for God - smh

This is in today's Herald. It's an article about Hillsong's youth ministry. The following is part of it:
The program is carefully crafted, says youth pastor Phil Dooley, to fuel spiritual growth while meeting youth's social needs, and the emphasis is on fun.

"It's all about creating a positive and welcoming vibe, that says, 'man, these guys don't need drugs and are not heavy into dating, but they are enjoying life'."

Dooley rejects claims that the church's youth program offers a stripped-down theology.

"Our message doesn't change, it's the power of the cross and what it represents, the life, death the resurrection of Jesus Christ - but how we deliver that in the world of YouTube and iPods and video downloads and Xboxes has to be relatable."
What do you think of the article? What do you think of their youth ministry?

I wonder what "the power of the cross and what it represents" looks like in practise. What is their primary view of the cross? Penal substitution or Christus Victor? I wonder if the power and victory of the cross (which are true) is emphasised more than the work of Jesus in his death for our sins and resurrection for our new life.

Thoughts?

Friday, May 18, 2007

Youth Ministry Podcasting

Dave Mires, fellow author on this blog is featured in this months Southern Cross (Anglican newspaper of the Sydney Diocese). The article has some comments and helpful thoughts from Dave, and a few others about using 'new media' to support evangelical youth ministry. It's worth a read (and I'm looking forward to Dave maybe sharing some more of his thoughts in this area. Hint hint Dave.)

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Game On!

It's time to start writing on this site! We now have a 3rd writer (a real life rock star!!). And we promise to write more often. Stay tuned... (in the meantime check out Dave's podcast)