Trying to Impress
    So far, Voxtropolis has been a great experience for me. I’m very new to the “missional” mindset and new mode of thinking, so reading the insight of people like Alex McManus, Sam Radford, Dean Sharp, Roy McClung and various others is very helpful and encouraging. Especially with features like the Café, Voxtropolis facilitates the networking of Christ followers and Kingdom builders. But I’ve started to notice something weird. It’s probably not really even there, and my mind is playing tricks on me.ÂÂ
    When you move into a neighborhood, it seems there’s often a competition between neighbors. One neighbor gets a new car, then a few months later the jealous neighbor down the street drives home in a shiny, new(er) car. One house receives a new paint job, then several other houses quickly put up new siding or apply a new coat of paint. A flowerbed down the street looks like it could be featured in “Better Homes and Gardens,” and suddenly several other neighbors re-landscape, put in a pond, etc. Maybe it’s not as drastic as I make it sound, but we all know it happens. Living in a neighborhood, it seems competition is inevitable.ÂÂ
     But what about the neighborhood in The City of Voices? As followers of Christ, worshipers in Spirit and Truth with God himself as our reality, do we try to impress our “neighbors” with new ideas, fresh insights, hoping we’re the next blog featured on Into the Mystic?  I know, it all sounds very silly. Many people posting their ideas and “insights” are simply wanting to encourage others by sharing their stories.ÂÂ
     I just hope that as the community develops and more people move in, a competition doesn’t evolve of who can be the most missional, the most insightful, the most contemplative.ÂÂ
For what it’s worth, that’s my thought for the day.
January 27th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
Challenging thoughts, Nathan. Thanks for sharing.
January 27th, 2006 at 4:07 pm
Very insightful. For me, Vox is a chance to blog in a different direction. Eventually I may move everything over here…
January 28th, 2006 at 7:54 am
Competition sort of goes with the territory. We’re human. We’d all like to see lively discussion sparked by our Blog entries, but people’s time is limited.
So, we’ll have a few Blogs that get the lion’s share of comments, I’ve been looking at this phenomenon for a while and have realized I can’t predict which entries will attract comments. My own experience leads to believing that the more raw and honest a posting is, the more likely I am go get comments.
But… is that really the purpose of Blogging? FIshing for comments? Dialogue is fun, but perhaps writing to produce dialogue isn’t the best way. I just do my best to tell true stories, and figure than’s my responsibility.
January 28th, 2006 at 8:25 am
Larry, I couldn’t agree with you more. People with regularly read blogs might feel some responsiblity in writing, knowing many people might read their thoughts. In that case, I’ve noticed encouragement, hope, and innovation are commong themes. Honestly, not many blogs fall into the category I blogged about. I’ve just noticed a few that seem to push way too hard to be “creative.” But when it comes down to it, all that really matters is that we have the Kingdom’s advance in mind and the glory of the King at heart.
Thanks for your thoughts!
January 28th, 2006 at 8:42 am
Larry,
Good thoughts, I agree. But what do you think causes that competition? Why do people want to have the blog everyone reads? I think there are some signficant parallels with many other things that I see happening, even in the “missional movement”. People want to be the one to create or be part of the church that is most on the “edge” of the movement. But why?
January 28th, 2006 at 9:17 am
Michael, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’m not really sure what causes the unspoken competition. I do no think it’s of mal intent. Here’s a thought that immediately came to mind though:
Much of the “missional movement” is about getting back to square 1, the beginning of the New Testament Church as instituted by Christ and the apostles, complete with the subersive, dangerous, exciting elements. With that in mind, churches that are hitting closest to the mark are looked up to. I mean, seriously, who WOULDN’T want to be looked at as following closely in the footsteps of Jesus and his first disciples?! So, it’s not a desire to be looked highly upon, but the understandable desire to be “numbered among the saints” in a sense.
Not sure if that makes sense; it did when the thought hit me. What are YOUR thoughts on the matter? Again, thanks for contributing to the dialogue!
January 28th, 2006 at 9:23 am
nathan,
I definitely agree with that, who wouldn’t want to be known as the one closest to Jesus. Maybe this is obvious, but I think it has something to do with every persons desire to be known in meaningful ways. I can’t put my finger on it, but I think there is some connection between all the talk in missional theology about relationship, and the way the blog world has taken off, and the idea of meeting in people’s houses. I think the cause in part is a reaction in western culture of a deep loneliness, deeper than we even acknowledge. I think people are desperate to be known and to know, and the competition for some people is an effort to just be known in a meaningful way. In many ways, I think that being known and knowing is the same thing as returning to the first century and recovering the mission of the church.
January 29th, 2006 at 11:07 am
When Jesus’ disciples were found focused on great things, giving them status in heaven, Jesus told them, “Whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.” -Mark 10:43
Is this is our (my) understanding of greatness?
January 29th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
nathan, outstanding post. here’s my take.
competition rocks.
especially the kind you describe.
imagine: competing to be the most missional, thoughtful, selfless, generous.
what would we say to such competitors? “ok, everybody stop that. after all, what kind of world would competing to be the most decent kind of human lead to?”
in the end though, that competition would most likely be a lonely one. Think of it.. the depth of humilty and love one would need to enter that race would turn some away.
excellent post, nathan. one of my favorites of today. keep it up.
February 2nd, 2006 at 8:00 am
i’d like to say something really profound here …. but …. ummmm, kinda seems counter to the discussion.
i followed you here via Sam R’s post and was really intrigued by what you say — and agree w/ the dangers you’ve outlined. i wonder if the kind of competition (real or potential) you describe has something to do with the fact that many/most/all vox readers are involved in church leadership at some level. (at least i suspect that to be true…?)
one of the hallmarks of leaders is that they push the envelope of ideas - it is one of the ways God gifts them in order to keep the church moving and growing into the future.
For those of us who do lead, we recognize that instinct or drive that pushes us to be out front. sounds kind of self-centered - and can be when not kept under control of the Spirit.
all of that to say, thank you for raising the question and creating a forum for all of us to step back, take a look at why we do what we do and become a body of encouragement for the sake of Christ.
i resonated w/ Larry … tell the stories, see where it takes you…
February 2nd, 2006 at 2:23 pm
I like dialogue. I started writing stories 20-odd years ago in hopes of starting dialogues with people but it didn’t happen. After Lu got me into Blogging I hoped that the Blog would develop into a dialogue, but it rarely happens. Sometimes I’ll post a story that gets some response, but the majority draw no comments. Did anyone read them? If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, is there a sound?
Dialogue also doesn’t happen in person. The gentle art of conversation seems to be dying out. If, by chance, you do get some time with a friend, the cell phone will ring and torpedo the conversation.
As for competition, we are raised as competitive, judgmental people. One way to judge effectiveness is to count the number of comments. I’d like to think it doesn’t matter, but it does get lonely, post after post that it seems no one notices.
And then there’s the idea of who has the cleverest posts. Mine range from just bread-and-butter stories to those that are built of disparate pieces in a rather fey style. These latter usually tank at the box office, but they’re fun to write.
Vox is an interesting experiment: building a community from scratch. My other Blog is part of a small home-grown community: first Lu, then me, then one by one others. It will take time for this community to develop. Right now the houses are all new, no lawns, no chalk drawings on the sidewalks. It hasn’t been lived in long enough.
Michael, I agree that people are desperate to be known. Our world provides few real opportunities for connection. Even followers of Jesus often confuse busyness with productivity. As for competing to create the church that’s most on the edge, it seems to be human nature. As soon as someone does a new trick of any kind, everyone else tries to outperform that.
Nathan, “getting back to square 1″ is a great idea. My hope for this Blog community is that it will help people do just that: to come face to face with their savior God and converse wtih him, encouraged by the examples shown here. God’s radical love is shown in people’s stories, no matter how small they are, and God sees the value even if no one else reads it. Or perhaps the story is there for just one other person. Leave the 99 and go after the one. If God hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be here.