Alan Hartung, who read TallSkinnyKiwi before me, alerted us all to this new site - a MySpace for Christians only, called Xianz. The concerns are obvious - Christians not allowed to talk to others of different age groups, Microsoft owning an online church now, a space for Christians to hide, a space for unreal expectations of Christianity to flourished, unchecked by the world’s standards, etc - yet my greatest concern was this:

Given that there are age-groups within you can and must communicate, my biggest concern was older people disguising themselves as younger people - that way online paedophilia can get really religious! So I tried myself to get in disguised as a younger person.

Don’t worry - I couldn’t get in! You have to be invited into the Xianz community. No lone surfers allowed.

It made me more concerned, and more intrigued. Concerned that it is now even more “protected” by the outside world - to the point where honest discussion on things worldly can potentially be actively discouraged.

Intrigued that it requires a formal process of entry - one that could be called a formal evangelical process? Xianz appears to have established a set of rules for entry and discussion. Ecclesial rules. It is up to the members of the community, not the site itself, to grow the community.

I wonder what other rules are in place? Can someone invite me in, please? I promise I’ll say what my real age is. I’m 29.

Okay, I’m 34.