February
17, 2015 | NCCI, Nagpur
A seminar entitled
“Smart Church: Youth initiatives for an efficient, vibrant, communicating
Church” was held on February 17, 2015 at Azariah House at National Council of
Churches in India (NCCI) campus in Nagpur. It was jointly organized by NCCI’s Commission on Communications & Relations
and the Commission on Youth. The purpose of this seminar was to provide space
for young people from our Churches to come together bringing their own
experiences and ideas towards enhancing the ministries of the Church,
especially in their organizational aspects, and particularly in terms of
consolidating the communication systems, tools and processes. The program was
attended by 28 participants from several protestant denominations as well as
Roman Catholic orders.
Praise songs at the beginning of the program was led by Ms. Mrinalini Pakhare, Ms. Rebecca Hembrom and Mr. Reuben David. Opening prayer was done by Pastor Zuchon. Rev. Caesar David, Executive Secretary of the Commission on Communications and Relations, outlined the scope of the program and welcomed everyone. The resource persons were felicitated, there was a round of introductions.
In her keynote address Ms. Preety Kamble, President of Youth Synodical Youth Fellowship Committee of Church of North India, said that a Smart Church is a growing
church with strong faith, helping the communities to come together for better
administration and networking. In her
interactive address, she questioned the participants about their idea of a
Smart Church. She quoted Rick Warren
from the book Purpose driven church:
The church is a living organism, it is natural for it to grow, if it is
healthy. If a church is not growing, it
is dying. She closed with a personal
challenge: How would you and I make our church a smart and growing Church?
Prof. Dr. Kalpana Jadhav, Youth trainer and executive member
of Maharashtra Council of Churches (MCC) started her session with the game “Chinese
whispers” to demonstrate and observe the distortion of information that the
process of communication must take seriously. In her presentation she explained
the various elements in the process of communication with special emphasis on
points that the Church can use towards more efficient working. She also said
that, one should find one’s own voice and execute it appropriately with
Christian values, and that for the Church to be smart, its youth have to be
smart and adept at linking the benefits of technological advances to the work
of the Church.
Rev. Sunil Raj Philip, Executive Secretary of the Commission
on Dalits, spoke about the Opportunities and Pitfalls of smart communications.
He spoke on the intra-personal and inter-personal forms of communication. He spoke about the emerging New Media where
people can vent out their feelings when they are not heard in the Church. The
two-way communication that is characteristic of new forms of communication must
be used by Churches to break out of some set patterns and structures that have
been limiting and hindering the efficiency of the Church. He also cautioned about how the overuse of
gadgets can sometimes lead to underuse of information thereby resulting in barriers
between people.
After lunch, the participants were broken into 4 groups and
questions to think about, discuss and bring their findings to the plenary. The
discussions were very lively and engaging, and as such, clearly brought out
youth ideas, aspirations and hopes towards initiating the move towards greater efficiency
in Churches.
The following are the
findings as a result of the seminar presentations and discussions:
1. What is a “Smart Church"?
a.
It successfully motivates and engages members in
the life and growth of the Church
b.
It caters to spiritual and other needs
integrally
c.
It is a catalyst for people becoming acquainted
with the love of God
d.
It is a growing fellowship where sustainable
communities are built up
e.
It is a networking Church that helps and is
helped by other churches
f.
It uses new media, both digital and non-digital
to share, engage and reach to various people groups
g.
It gives evidence to democratization in
communication and other processes used by the Church
h.
It uses lesser resources to accomplish more by
employing smart management techniques and tools
i.
It is focused and stable in its short-term and
long-term goals
j.
It integrates the functions and ministries of
the Church to being seamless and non-conflicting processes
2. Following are the barriers found by the
participants which hinders the church from becoming a Smart Church:
a.
External barriers such as undeveloped
infrastructure
b.
Lack of funds leading to inability to harness
the offerings of development
c.
Lack of motivating and/or efforts by Church
committees
d.
Casual mindset towards the youth initiatives / lackadaisical
responses
e.
Lack of skill / awareness of the use of media
and communication in church
f.
Fear of change
g.
Digital divide
h.
Lack of ownership
i.
Competing work and distraction
j.
Hierarchical structures and processes
k.
Lack of inter-personal communications and
relationships
l.
Misplaced priorities
In order to overcome the barriers to becoming a Smart
Church, participants felt that Sharing information, education and media
literacy, networking, cross-learnings, mutual encouragement and help, are some
of the main elements that need attention and action.
The program ended on a note of promise as enlightened youth
were found to have been inspired to continue explorations at their local and
regional levels, spread the idea in their networks and seek out opportunities
to put into practice the ideas shared and learned at this seminar towards being
an efficient, vibrant, communicating Church and thereby an effective, relevant
and a “Smart Church”.
Reported By
-Ms. Sunita Gaikwad
-Ms. Madhuri Rebecca Hembrom
-Ms. Mrinalini Martin Pakhare
