group flexibility

A semi-quick word on flexibility, seeing as I haven't posted much lately.

There are many ways to interpret flexibility, especially as it relates to church and spiritual matters. There is flexibility in doctrine; while in some instances this can be useful for maintaining unity and avoiding judgmentalism, as they say, there can be too much of a good thing. There is flexibility in meeting; I touched on this earlier, mostly from the frame of reference that gathering together is not limited to a single time and place. There is flexibility in format; again, this topic I touched on before, maintaining the position that changing up the content and activities of a meeting is a good thing. Lastly (for now), there is flexibility in the medium. This is what I'd like to elaborate on.

Medium: singular of media, the format through which communication is achieved. Since ReGroup is by its very definition something that must emerge from its surrounding cultural and societal context, the medium or media used for communication within and for the group will range widely. However, as with flexibility in doctrine, there is a limitation to how flexible a group can be with the media used to communicate. First and foremost, there is one aspect of ReGroup that is fundamental and unchangeable for it to function and succeed. People who join ReGroup must be located geographically near each other so they can meet face-to-face on a regular basis. This personal contact is a must, especially in a time when digital interactions are a major part of mainstream communication - instant messaging, texting, chat rooms, blogs, myspace pages, cell phones, etc. This is not to say that any of those technologies are bad, they have their uses. However, to truly know someone and be a part of each other's lives requires that fundamental human need -- to be with others, not be alone, and know you are loved.

Now, the flexibility in medium comes from the communication that takes place between meetings. Sure one could go so far as to say that meaningful conversation should only ever take place face-to-face, which might lead to many impromptu calls to meet for coffee, but there obviously are other options. If the group so decides, they could choose any one or more (or none) of the myriad communication technologies to keep each other up to date, or perhaps discuss ideas for future meetings. Anything goes, so long as it works for everyone: a private or public group blog, a group website (like Yahoo! or MSN Groups), myspace, a mailed newsletter, phone calls, text messages, etc. How a group communicates will emerge from within the context of how they live their lives. There is no defined template of how a ReGroup should be formatted, and thusly there is no template as to how a ReGroup will communicate.

Cheers!

Reminder: Keep that feedback coming, as much as it might help you to have questions or concerns addressed, it helps me even more by forcing me to think about things that I might never have thought of...