The Challenge and Promise of Web 2.0

Editor's Overview: In this section, Andrea tells stories of real-life communities engaging online, as a way of exploring the pros and cons of the new landscape.

We learn about how a New York City Catholic who rarely attended Mass became more engaged in his local parish because of the connections made with other parishioners on Facebook. We learn about a campus ministry where the official website was largely overlooked in favor of the opportunities for communication offered by Facebook. In addition, there was the Community of Prophecy, which used the Internet to encourage the development of its members' spiritual gifts; the online church that enabled people with disabilities to share their stories and provide mutual prayer-based support; and the Anglican Communion Online, which fostered theological reflections, denominational news, and personal postings.

Andrea discusses how these venues provided six traits people are seeking in online communities: "relationship, care, value, connection, intimate communication, and shared faith." At the same time she addresses the question of whether, or to what extent, online congregations diminish the importance of offline congregations. Along with that concern is the question of whether spiritual and religious identification and growth are becoming too individualized.

You may read straight through this section by clicking on the "Next" button at the bottom of each page. Or you may click on any of these subsection titles:

The Parish Facebook
  Self-Organizing Religious Communities
  Digital Reflections of Mobile Lives
  Connecting Individuals within Congregations
  Merging Identities Online
  Needs-based Congregations?
So Many Wishing Me Happy Birthday!
  What's the Website For?
  Accelerating the Impulse to Know Others
Online Religious Communities
  Three Communities, Three Stories
  The Limits of Online Religion
  Are People Looking Online for What They Can't Find Offline?
  Do Online Congregations Diminish the Importance of Offline Congregations?
  The Future is Not Guaranteed
  Networked Individualism and Religious Life
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