Good Article on Blogging for Christians

Gospelcom.net has a good blogging article online now.

They say "Once you have a blog, and added the obligatory "First Post" message to it, what do you do? Well, it's really up to you. Some folks keep a blog to post about politics, news, and anything else that comes to mind. But blogs can be about technology, the Bible, and can even aggregate content from other blogs. Maybe your church could use a blog to maintain a prayer list, or to give your missionaries a place to record their day-to-day experiences. Maybe your ministry could use a blog to let your Web vistors know about upcoming events. There are quite a few ways to make use of a weblog."

The Rest of the Article

I believe that blogging can be a great discipleship tool for youth. I getting one of our youth online now.

Tim Bednar at e-church really plays this out by sharing,

"Blogging (like journaling) can be a spiritual discipline for several reasons:

:: Blogging can be a frequent, intentional habit that aids in spiritual formation.
:: Blogging interrelates with the corollary discipline of spiritual reading.
:: Blogging can be used to practice the presence of God.
:: Blogging is practiced in community.

Dallas Willard writes of spiritual disciplines, "...they are much more effective if they can be practiced in community, and you can't really practice them without community. If you have a community where they are understood as a normal part of our lives, there can be instruction or teaching about them, which brings about a kind of accountability."

I found that journaling and blogging possessed several things in common:

:: Blogs and journals are at their best when they are written frequently.
:: Blogs and journal flow best when the author resists the urge to edit or censor.
:: Blogs and journals provide a unique history of one's inner life and faith-journey.

But I have also found them to be different and distinct:

:: Blogs are public. A private journal is usually never published.
:: Blogs seek to interact with an audience by soliciting comments and feedback. Journals are isolated from external input and separate from community.
:: Blogs can sometimes be more self-focused than God-focused. (Blogging as a spiritual discipline also does not require that every word be about God. In fact, writing only in spiritual tones misses blogging's potential. However, blogging ought not become narcissistic if it is to be useful for spiritual formation.)"

Thanks Tim! Here's the rest of his article.

I think that blogging can not only help the young person in processing and journaling in there walk with God, but also be an online example/role model for other teens (establishing community) as well as be a window into what youth in the inner city (or where ever else they may be from) are going through for youth leaders, parents, donors, etc.

We will continue to try to play this out and see what happens!

I'll keep you posted.