Is the UMC really connectional?  I have been told one trip to the UM portal and you will have a contact in any place in the country.  What would you say if you got a call out of the blue from a TN methodist wanting to virtually introduce you to a live person in your town?  What if you were ask to join an online discussion with the eventual prospect of coffee with this person?

What would be required for a blog to be defined as missional?   

I am very interested in you brainstorm!

You think it, you write it.

 I will start by asking if talking inperson is required?  See

CityEdge Planting

I remember a few years ago those WWJD bracelets got popular.  They were intended to remind the wearer to act as Jesus would.  Well I have been wondering where would Jesus blog?  What sites would he read?  Whith whom would He enter into virtual relationships?  I guess the only way we have to know is to look who He formed relationships with while He walked on earth.  We must extrapolate from His real relationships as Al had not yet invented the internet and Jesus was bound in time while He was on earth.

He ate with tax collectors.  He talked with harlots.  He partied with drunkards.  I guess one could stereotype his crowd as sinners.  Can we assume He would enter into virtual relationships with the same type of people?

Where do you blog?  Who do you blog with? 

I am going to post this and then check out all my UM buddies on google reader.  Should this worry me?

When the great commission said go out to all nations and make disciples did Jesus mean you had to walk or ride a donkey?

Andrew at the Church of the Resurrection (COR) Thoughts of Resurrection had a comment in his post talking about the door of the church.  I had been thinking of the implications.  Saturday as I was looking to get more familiar with blogging, I am new, I found the random post button.  It opened my eyes.  I had been blogging with people who shared my interest.  Church people.  The random post button opened a new world of people who are hurting and outside the church.  It really convicted me as this is how I, we, often do church.  By this I mean we look up and in, but not out.

The United Methodist Church (UMC), my chosen denomination, is suppost to be a connectional system.  If I get to blogging with someone from another state and form a relationship then I am limited by distance, but if I could bring in a UM blogger from their home town into the relationship then coffee could follow and the hope of true community.  This is not to say virtual relationships are not important.  The letters of Paul from prison show virtual community is important.  I have a virtual accountability blog, http://orthokardia.wordpress.com , in which we help each other work out our salvation each day.  I am just saying it is not optimal.

Do you think this might work or am I dreaming?