bloggedy blog: the personal weblog of a music lover and aging punk wannabe

:: Saturday, October 11, 2003 ::

Participatory media, participatory church
Fellow blogger Tim Bednar, who has a knack for pulling together disparate bits of information and synthesizing them into something blogworthy, does just that with his recent posts regarding the rise of bloggers as the new amateur preachers. Noting the trend of the blurring of lines between blogging and journalism, as outlined in this We Media white paper about the rise of participatory, peer-to-peer journalism, Bednar observes that the clergy actually have much to learn from their congregations, just as journalists could stand to listen to their readers, viewers and listeners. This sharing of knowledge, this breaking down of barriers, would benefit everyone. (See also Bednar's post about congregations knowing more than their pastors.)

I find this "participatory" discussion on journalism and clergy both fascinating and amusing. As both an amateur journalist (the only kind there is) and an amateur minister (bi-vocational youth pastor), I've always tended to approach both vocations ("callings," if you will) from a grassroots, populist perspective. Ever since my J-School professors drilled it into my head, I've maintained that journalism is not a profession and should never become a profession. (For more about this, see this post from about a month ago, in which I comment on this Columbia Journalism Review article about "the new amateur journalists".) By its very nature, journalism should be participatory, and it has been throughout the years.

Was Thomas Paine a professional journalist? Was Edgar Allen Poe? Mark Twain? Nellie Blye?

Somewhere along the line, however, journalists got cocky and fell into this trap that their "high calling" set them apart as some sort of priestly tribe. Maybe it happened when they started building journalism schools and started sending budding journalists to college rather than into the print shops. Maybe the same thing happened to preachers when they started sending them to seminaries rather than out on the circuit.

I don't know when or how it all began. But I maintain that journalists, to be as objective as possible, should not be set apart. They should not be professionals.

The same, I think, should be said of clergy. The best ministers I know are bi-vocational "amateurs" who have learned their craft through personal study and practice. My pastor, who has been in ministry for nearly 50 years, never attended seminary. Never even attended college. He barely graduated high school. But he is a scholar of Scripture and life, and his wisdom far surpasses the wisdom of many well-educated professional ministers.

:: Andrew 11:05 + ::
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