The problem for emerging church bloggers
Australia’s history since European arrival is painted with secularism, but not because Australians are not religious, but in the temperament of the Church’s power in the building of the nation. Freedom of expression and plurality of thought are values that have fed social development in the nation, and it seems these are values of the churches too, who are more keen to voice concerns over the nations record of social justice than moral purity. The churches’ presence in public life in Australia is with a bible in the back pocket rather than on the sleeve.
Those involved in the emerging church conversation recognise and even celebrate that denominational labels have lost their meaning, yet find that left/right or Liberal/Conservative distinctions cannot define them. They hold to a faith and seek a place that is beyond the debates and campaigns of an outdated Protestantism or consumerist Evangelicalism. Emerging church bloggers operate in an environment where the gap between producers and consumers is closing in on them, where patterns of authority are changing around them and even by them. In the blogosphere they have found a certain level of freedom to express, cultivate and manage their unique marginal identities, and have encountered new systems of constraints to deal with.
The purpose of this research is to share the experience of emerging church bloggers in meeting these problems and opportunities, and offer some lessons learned for future users of blogging for religious purposes, and those who monitor and interpret online religious behaviour.
