Go Georgetown!

I believe we are seeing some of the labor pains of a new community birthing. Many times when something new gets started you will see folks join in, make a statement or two, and move on. Those are not the ones upon which the organization or business will be built. They test it, though, and try its character. Then, later, the dross is removed and what is left is even more pure. I don't know if I will be dross or the precious metal, but at this point in time, I am opting for the latter.  Still, we do need to remember that in all things we should be building each other up and not tearing down...there is enough of that in the world as it is.

Who are those Bruins, anyway?

Good point about the growing and labor pains that are to be expected.  I guess this is part of the fun of building from scratch - seeing how a community behaves, and building reactively to encourage and highlight good fellowship and content. 

I think you'll like what we have planned and will want to be a precious metal ;)

In the spirit of this post, I would like to proclaim that georgetown (purposely uncapitalized) will be lucky if they even get to play UCLA in the championship game!  Who are the Bruins you ask?  Only the team with the most Final Four appearances in the country (17 versus 5 from the lowly hoyas)

:)

Very true, Georgetown is impressive I admit.  In a chivalrous act of humility, I also admit that I'm being a fair-weather fan. (I guess its not very humble if I'm bringing attention to it).  I'm a Cal Bears fan first and foremost, and a UCLA Bruins fan only if Cal's out of the picture!

Here's to hoping for a Hoyas-Bruins championship game...

Thanks for this blog.  After some of the things I have read the past two days I had almost decided to drop the subscription and move on.  After hearing reading your thoughts I have decided to hang for awhile longer to continue to watch the growth of the community.

Don't know who to root for at this time since my TarHeels are out. 

I hear ya...let's build with silver and gold and let the rest get burned away as it will. This is a good thing you have started here Joe and we will work hard to make it precious.

I agree with the idea that what we are seeing is the pains involved in beginning and growing a community. Such pains are simply part and parcel of this life (Matthew 24, Romans 8:18-25).

It is important, I think, to consider that the early church had its own well-known "labor pains." Consider the church council in Jerusalem and the subsequent disagreement between Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15. These are instances of believers hashing things out in a public way and God using the results for His glory and our good. We should not engage in fruitless arguments, and there is wisdom in avoiding getting bogged down in certain conversations. But, at the same time we should not be so afraid of conflict that we try to stifle it at all costs and pretend that it doesn't exist. To do that could keep important issues from being discussed and also keep people from learning how to talk to one another, say sorry and forgive each other.

As a side note, if certain comments on blogs are discouraging, then why not also post concerns about them there?

Joe, I don't know if it's growing pains or just our humanity rearing its ugly head. It isn't restricted to MyChurch either. Brick n mortar churches split often in ugly fashion, power brokers in nationally visible congregations fall in sin, people leave churches for selfish reasons, I could go on and on. For the time being I hang on and I blog in truth and love, despite being discouraged by political scraps, harsh debates over faith nonessentials, etc. But the thing that discouraged me most about this blog of yours was seeing the comment by RLloyd56, who from what I've seen is a very loving compassionate Spirit-filled brother. I would HATE to see the likes of him leave MyChurch, we need to multiply people with his spirit here. Keep your head up, MyChurch is as good a rallying point as any for the saints. ~God's love to you, mike

I also am glad that Joe has brought this up here and now, and I agree that we should all play a role in making the general conversation better in the future. I don't think that Joe or anyone else from the MyChurch team should be policing the blogs for concerning statements and officially calling people out on such stuff, either. Not only do they have other things to do, but there also (in my opinion) should not be such a "top down" approach taken to such things unless there is a persistent pattern or an extraordinarily outrageous instance of abuse (if something really bad is going on, there is the "report" feature at the top of the blog that we all can use).

What I was saying is that if Joe (who said at the beginning that he was speaking for himself and not the team or the site) or anybody else is concerned about something that was said publically, then why not say something publically on the particular blog in question? Perhaps a person (e.g., the originator of the blog) could add a gentle reminder that it is good to keep things at least civil, especially if that person has been involved in the conversation for awhile or is friends with one or more of the parties who are debating (or fighting, etc.).

I tend to be more libertarian and "bottom up"-oriented in certain ways. For the internet, I don't think that there should be a lot of set rules for discussion, and I do think that people should be able to work things out and build up the discussion without a lot of interference from others. In the particular blog that Joe quoted from, I think that the two guys seem to have worked things out to a point of still disagreeing with each other but not hating each other over it. If anyone is still concerned about that particular situation for its own sake, though, then he should feel free to speak to it.

Finally, I agree that people can get ugly with each other easily in "real life," too. I think, though, that it is particularly easy for people to get that way on the internet, where there is a layer of anonymity coupled with the ease of instantaneous response, and unfortunately the words that get said can linger on "forever" and can be read be anyone who happens by the conversation. That should make us all extra zealous to make sure that the conversations are edifying or are brought back to a good place if they have derailed along the way.

God have mercy on us, that we do not drive people away from Christ by our behavior here!

Yes, great points all around.  Thanks for the encouragement and insights Jam, Mike, and Larry.  And thanks for sticking around RLloyd56 :)  A lot of food for thought in the comments... and I will keep the points made in mind.

I can't claim to know what the right solution is, or what my role should be in creating that solution.  Perhaps I acted prematurely in singling out a comment in a public manner without giving the conversation a chance to work itself out (we did send a note to that brother in private however and kept him anonymous in this post).  And as Jam noted, I'm glad to see things have indeed worked out.

The community will ultimately determine what MyChurch will look like moving forward.  Thats why we stick a "beta" by our name.  We're all trying to figure this Web 2.0 thing out together...

I suppose that blog conversations inevitably will have to be considered on a case-by-case basis. But, it seems like a good general rule of thumb is to deal with "private" sins with a gradually expanding circle of involvement (see Matthew 18:15-20) while "public" matters should be dealt with publically (see Galatians 2:11-14 and 1 Timothy 5:19-20).

In Galatians, Paul was rebuking Peter, whose actions were severely affecting the entire group due to his status as an apostle. Furthermore, Paul was doing this rebuking as someone who was a fellow apostle. So, I think that the rebuking in that case was a lot harder in tone than what probably would be called for here at MyChurch. Also, there is the example of Joseph, who "being a just man and unwilling to put [Mary] to shame [when she was found to be with child], resolved to divorce her quietly" (v. 19 of Matthew 1:18-25) before learning the whole story as well as the verses Proverbs 10:12, Proverbs 17:9, Galatians 6:1-5. I believe that these further emphasize the point that MyChurch should be a forgiving community and that issues should be dealt with in as gentle and minimally disruptive a manner as possible---clearly the spirit in which Joe and the rest of the MyChurch team wish to function.

As the originator of a blog, you can delete comments. Many of the blogs I read outside of here do that when appropriate. They also have a rule that if the blog owner has to scroll down more than 3 times- it's getting deleted! If you are going to post your dissertation on any given subject, please start your own blog.

What I would encourage everybody (self included) to do is to stick to the issue. Avoid personal attacks on someone's character. You loose credibility when you attack someone's character. I have stopped replying on blogs when they become unfruitful, and guess what, they have all died out.

Tarheels are out. Florida to repeat.

Brother Chris

BUMP

There are not enough people reading this one!