Context & Voice

The internet has become an integrated part of our lives. From smartphones to blogs and tumblogs and tweets, an internet connected lifestyle is now the norm for our society. 35 hours of new YouTube content is created every minute. In 48 hours, more content will be created on the internet than in all of 2003. The question that the “C”hurch is trying to answer is how to most effectively utilize this medium in order to tell people about Jesus.

Vince Marotte is uniquely qualified to help answer this question. As the internet campus pastor for Gateway Church in Austin, TX, Vince is immersed in this on daily basis. I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of his book, Context & Voice, to review, which explains in detail quite a bit about how the church should view the internet and how it can help further the message we try so hard make sure others hear.

I think Vince does a great job of defining both what our problem has been, and then describing the ways in which to correct it. He spends an entire chapter discussing content and answering the question “What is content?” in a way we can all understand.

I love how Vince breaks down content into Relational Content and Front Door Content. I think most churches focus quite a bit on Front Door content and tend to overlook Relational content. One of the things that resonated most with me was that as a church, if we’re going to take the time to produce quality content, it should be remarkable content. Content that people notice and pass along. Regardless of whether we want to admit it or not, out members of our church are creating Front Door content and Relational content completely on their own, and we would be best served to give them remarkable content to pass along.

The most important message in the book I think is the way in which content is accessed from culture to action. Vince discusses each of these stages in the book itself.

It starts with culture and that culture needs to encounter content that moves them into relationship wherein relational content can be delivered and in turn action can be taken.

Once you decide the culture you’re involved in as a church, which I believe truthfully should be a culture that is targeting unbelievers, you tailor your content (Front Door) to that culture. Once culture meets content, it should move them into relationships with others, where specific relational content can be given in a more tailored way to the person, and then action can be taken.

The whole goal of why we do the things we do every weekend and why we have life groups, small groups, flashing lights, fog machines, cafes, and bookstores is all driven by our desire to reach those that don’t know Jesus, and we need to make sure our message is being communicated in the most effective way possible.

I would highly recommend Vince’s book to those of you that are currently running and internet campus or are thinking about starting one. I would recommend this book to pretty much any creative or church staff member simply for the fact that we should always be reviewing our message and how we deliver content to make sure we are reaching those that need to hear about the Jesus we love. And finally, I would also recommend this book to any person who’s a Christian, because we are all creating content every day through our lives and our actions on Facebook, Twitter, and our blogs that should be showcasing the love that Jesus has for others.

No related posts.