Here’s a plug for a podcasting priest in the Netherlands, Fr. Roderick is his name. He runs the network. SQPN.com His network reaches lots of people through new media with Ustream, podcasts, video podcasts and various social networking sites.

I’ve been intrigued today to discover just how many of the people I follow, and have never met, are churchgoers. I tend not to write about my own faith (I think perhaps being an RE teacher means that while I am very happy to twitter about anything religious, I am also conscious that sharing my own faith in education is a very sensitive area!). However, I also had an interesting experience earlier this week where someone was confused about the fact I mentioned going to church because he thought that I had elsewhere been open about my lack of mainstream belief – turns out he got me confused with my husband, who also twitters but in a very different way and under a very different username.

Finally, twittering in church. Or anything else involving mobiles in church, for that matter. Every week I read the little blurb in the church newsletter: “As you enter the church there is a sign which tells all to switch off all MOBILE PHONES. This means that they are not switched on until you leave the church. I have noticed in recent weeks that some people have been talking on a mobile phone before leaving the church. Can I ask those who do this to stop, as this is a House of Prayer where people come to pray and not to have a conversation on a mobile phone that they can have outside the church and preferably in public.” In fact, this week it was mentioned twice. I’m not so sure about whether this is related to our approach to technology in worship as to our approach to prayer and spending time with God … I tweeted on the way to church and when I came out of church today, and would have loved to have recorded parts of the service today (blessing of the palms and entrance to church particularly beautiful), but surely then my mind is not entirely on God?

Definitely a lot to discuss and think about – sorry if I’ve gone on a bit, think this is my longest comment ever on a blog post.

BTW, is it possible for you to install a plugin on this blog, or use Disqus so that comment authors get notified when people reply to them please?

Thomas- I agree with you 100% about TweetDeck making Twitter entirely more functional and palatable as your network grows. Some people are averse to using a separate client for Twitter, but I think it has made all the difference for me.

Kelly- I’m honored, and most certainly the greater beneficiary for being “stuck with you.” Glad to have you as one of my incredibly valuable resources.

Ann- Thanks for the follow. I have added you to my network and am glad to already be learning from you. I do believe the technology in church discussion is an important one that should be had in the near future.

Dean- Very nice perennial herbaceous reference. The article does a nice job of detailing how social networks are bringing us back to a place of community we’ve not had for a long, long time. Very interesting read.

Matt- I will encourage your parents to join and friend you next time I see them in church.

Scott- And that is the power of networks like Twitter. We can all shape the stream we follow as we see fit. It does make it tough, however, if we want to share things at the risk of losing people in our network we value. I think there’s still a lot to be worked out in this new world.

Doug- That was exactly the conversation my wife and I had later that Sunday afternoon. I would love to have a longer conversation about this as I believe it is directly related to our approach to technology in education as well. Let me know if you want to chat about it some time. There’s a lot to discuss here.

Whilst I think attitudes towards the above need to change, I’m *not* of the opinion that things like Twitter have a place in church services – at least not your average church service. I think that it would distract from the whole reason you go there in the first place…

I look at this as a return on investment issue. We have a finite amount of time to learn and work. If someone isn’t giving me a good return on my attention investment, than I would need to cut my expensives.

I have no intention of setting up 2 accounts. I yam what I yam.