(derekbaker)

The Debut of the AscensionNYC Blog

I know someone who, at the drop of a hat, will create a blog for any purpose or cause. But he's an entertaining writer, so it's all right. (We also happen to share a birthday, so I'm naturally inclined to forbearance.) He created a blog when he got a new bike. He created a new blog when he decided that Match.com was engaging in deceptive billing practices. He created a blog when he wanted to rent out a room in his house.

Anyway, I haven't had the time to match his prolixity. But I have just created my second blog -- except it's not for me, or at least, I'm a minor character. It's for my church. Here's the notice I wrote up for next Sunday's bulletin insert:

Our parish has a new venue for evangelism and explorations of faith, this time online. Visit ascensionnyc.org/blog on our Web site to see the debut of the AscensionNYC Blog -- with inaugural bloggers Stephen Hagerty, Eve Beglarian, and Paul Kahn sharing their thoiughts and interests with the wider world over the next couple of months. Inspired by the wonderful contributions of forty different parishioners each year in our Lenten Devotionals — the online edition of the last devotional even used this same "blog space" on our Web site as a pilot test — the AscensionNYC Blog is yet another experiment for the parish in new ways of "being a church" and in exploring questions of faith with visitors to our parish.at whatever address (street or Web) they choose to meet us.

I'm extremely grateful to my three friends who have agreed to start off our experience as a blogging parish. And so we'll see. I can already foresee the potential for intraparish conflict here, but then — as you'll know if you've ever been involved for any length of time in a congregation or, for that matter, any other human endeavor — it wouldn't really be a new idea if someone didn't get their nose out of joint, right?

Labels: church

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