Authentic blogging...
So I ran across apostle john's blog today.
He is a newish longtime presbyterian pastor down in florida. One of the things I'm thinking through as a new pastor is how to blog authentically my thoughts/musings/feelings while being pastoral to the church at the same time. I'm not sure, but I don't think that apostle john identifies which church he pastors in his blog: it is psuedo-anonymous by my quick glance. I wonder if his church knows about it.
That frees him, in a way, to talk about things like what he doesn't like about the process of being church where he works. Does that mean I should maintain an pseudo-anonymous blog so I could do the same too? I just wonder about how far to take the whole transparency thing...
He is a
That frees him, in a way, to talk about things like what he doesn't like about the process of being church where he works. Does that mean I should maintain an pseudo-anonymous blog so I could do the same too? I just wonder about how far to take the whole transparency thing...
posted by dctoo at 8:49 PM
5 Comments:
Newish? I love it! I'm an old fart with a big pot belly and bad breath and lots of grey hair in my black beard that makes me look like I've slobbered my milk :)
I was ordained in 1980.
I do generalize a lot of things in the blog. I changed the city to "South Florida" a few months ago.
I am PCUSA, now in my (let me see...)5th church I think. Been on COM and CPM and lots of other presbytery committees.
But come to think of it, I'm still just a child in the universe. I've still got lots to learn.
So yep, call me a newish presbyterian pastor :)
Whoops. That's the result of too little sleep. Your bio says 'recently orphaned' which I read as 'recently ordained...'
Sorry... :)
I ran across your blog through a chain of blogs...anyway, I'm glad I did. Nice blog.
This issue is probably my most important question about church ministry, and one of the key reasons I don't feel like I'll be heading into parish ministry right after graduating seminary. See, for me, I'm all about transparency. I know there are boundary issues to take seriously and all that, but I am dreadfully opposed to pastors being on a pedestal (I am not, however, blind to the fact that there's an imbalance of power). If I was to ever be in a church, I could not help but be transparent.
Anyway, I guess my question to you would be whether you would be more honest and open in your blog than you would be in the congregation, and for what reasons.
(Does that lengthy comment wear out my welcome as a first-time reader?)
I use my blog to talk about things I may not talk about in Church -- but need to express an opinion on. It's an outlet that gives me more freedom to talk about things my Church members -- who are mainly elderly - may not "connect" with.
Thanks both for the comments. Bethany, you are certainly welcome as a first time reader!
I'm also for transparency, and I gather that I'm careful enough that I know the difference between private journaling and public (albeit psuedo-anonymous) blogging and so would know that some things shouldn't go public.
The other side is the pastoral/political dimension, which is part of any pastoral relationship. One speaks the truth, in love. That means taking care in how one says what one says--being honest while also knowing what one is saying to another. Some members of my church could handle straightforward conversation on some things; others would need some interpretation to understand where I was coming from and where my honest position is.
So that's the tension. Right now, I'm leaning towards a two-blog approach: one more official, public, part of our church's web page; and one like this one. We'll see...
Thanks for the comments, Bill and Bethany. Anything more you'd like to remark on is appreciated!
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