Leonard Sweet’s Post-Modern Pilgrims
E-P(articipatory)-I-C
Participation
Keyboards are sooooo 1980s. My son expects that he can touch the icons on my computer desktop and move them around with a swipe of his finger just like on his daddy’s iPhone.
Disney movies are sooooo 1990s. No kid wants to sit mindlessly and veg out to Bambi for an hour when they can watch Dora as she asks them “Can you say feliz navidad?” or SuperWhy who invites my son on a regular basis to join the SuperTeam “Say your name…put your hand in too!”.
Participation, not Representation, is the new currency in our culture. Representation, as in TV stations broadcasting what they ‘think’ we want, is giving way to Participation, online movie/tv services (like my favorite hulu.com) allowing us to choose what we watch. What about encyclopedias? They don’t exist anymore because of participatory successes like Wikipedia.
When it comes to the church, Sweet says:
There are no more ‘professional’ clergy and ‘pew-sitting’ laity. There are only ministers who look to leaders to mobilize and release ministry through them. All ‘participants’ are full partners.
One of the beautiful things about worshiping this Triune God of ours is that our forefathers in the faith devised methods for everyone to participate in corporate worship. For the church, this is a great intersection with postmodern culture – the priesthood of all believers taking active, participatory roles in all areas of the church – especially in worship!
How does your church encourage everyone to participate?
Tags: church, Dora, EPIC, faith, god, iPhone, Leonard Sweet, Ministry, paradigm, Super Why, Worship