Hacking.Church 10: Fifteen Years!

15 years of Hacking Christianity!

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Today’s issue is a special edition as it is our fifteen-year anniversary! We will resume sharing in our usual categories with our next issue!

Origin Story Q&A

A friend suggested some questions to respond to, so here they are for this momentous post!

• Why did you start the blog?

  • In the fall of 2002, I first dipped my toes into online discussion and advocacy. Sure, I had entered into online arguments about church and society and frequented several online message boards and forums. But unlike the Christian forums, which required assent to pages of beliefs to converse, I wanted to create a respectful space for interfaith online discussion that didn’t require people to submit to my idea of what their beliefs should be. Being a web designer and theology geek meant I created my own online community that became quite popular. That online experiment lasted for six years, teaching me a lot about managing personalities online and dealing with trolls.

  • But I kept running into a problem. Everyone was pseudonymous, and that meant that I kept that community secret from the pastors, theologians, and activists I was meeting in real life. Something needed to change for my own integrity. So fifteen years ago, the forum was abandoned, and this blog began under my name in March 2008.

• Why “Hacking Christianity”?

  • I called it “Hacking Christianity” because in Seminary, I had completed both a systematic theology class where I used the image of technology as a metaphor to explain theology AND a missiology class where I learned about going where the people are, like Jesus Christ did. Removing roadblocks to effect God’s intended program for humanity became a good way to talk about faith in ways fellow geeks could appreciate–and eventually progressive United Methodist commentary as well.

  • Click to read our latest style update: Introducing Hacking Christianity 5.0

• What have you learned about the Church?

  • The Internet has radically changed how ideas flourish and propagate. Good “hacks” of church systems that remove barriers to people’s participation can be applied from one place to another. The skill you need to learn is translation: adapting one idea from one context to your own. The Internet is amazing for that, so writing about and sharing ideas (and centering the voices of others who don’t have online platforms) became a joy of the work.

• What have you learned about yourself?

  • I started the blog because I wanted consistency in my online and in-person persona. It seems like I have failed at that. People who meet me IRL after years of engagement online report their surprise that I’m far more mild-mannered and congenial in person than I appear to them online. I don’t intend to write or operate that way, but it led to jokes in my private accountability group whether I respond as “Pastor Jeremy or Blogger Jeremy.”

• What was the hardest post to write?

  • My heart hurts for so many posts, but there are two that immediately come to mind.

  • First, In Her Words: Reflections by Clergywomen on Sexual Assault and Harassment in the Church, because reading through 52 clergywomen’s stories was heartbreaking, and I’m so thankful to the team that helped produce it.

  • Second, Wespath study reveals Traditionalist Plan cruelly targets Clergy Pensions, because its truth-telling was immediately opposed by the powerful upper echelons of the UMC institution–and the Traditionalists piled on as usual. I was vindicated, but it was a really stressful two weeks.

• What posts are your personal favorites?

  • Hard to choose, but if I had to pick a top post by category:

  • Church: To Reach the Nones and Dones, Focus on the Ones, because it rhymes and is a simple method to transform a church through discipleship.

  • Theology: Primer on Atonement Theories, because everyone and their dog uses the simple graphic to explain complex theology in preaching and teaching and lets me know it has staying power!

  • United Methodist activism: The Betrayal of Good News: Behind a 2004 Blueprint for a UMC Endgame. This one hit right before General Conference 2019, and it helped frame for everyone in the denomination exactly what was at stake and how long bad actors had been working on splitting United Methodism.

  • United Methodist theology: Chiming in on the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, I know it’s two UM favorites, but I really like this one for its constructive contributions and how often I reference it since.

  • Geek Theology: Jesus played 3D Chess, a fun and relevant metaphor that I’ve used repeatedly. I know everyone expects a Star Wars reference, but Star Trek wins just this once.

That’s the interview! Click here to read the anniversary post on Hacking Christianity and to read the rest of the compilation of favorites over the years!

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Thank you for reading, commenting, and your shares on social media. It’s our community that has formed me the most the past 15 years, and I’m looking forward to whatever lies beyond.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Your turn: what did I miss that you really enjoyed?

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That’s it for now. Blessings to you and yours.

~Rev. Jeremy