The Hound of Heaven takes on Dave Roberts—and wins (Guest Post)

Dave Roberts 

I was raised to be a sceptic/agnostic/ atheist, always warned “Churches are dangerous places.” So, as a teenager, I decided if they are so dangerous, let’s go for a bit of danger! So I rebelled, became a Christian and started attending a local Christian youth group. 

Well, I came to the UK from Australia for 6 months travel around Europe! Or so I thought! That was in 1990 - 22 years it will be on the 26th of February 2012! I view it as God having a sense of humour. He knows I don’t like rain, cold—particularly together! He has even given me the most beautiful of women as a wife, but she doesn’t like hot weather!

7 years ago I had a minor stroke and I view that as God giving me a clip round the ear to stop being stubborn and to listen to Him for direction. So instead of moving north with my job at Royal Mail, I took redundancy and went off to Moorlands College where I graduated in 2007.

  ‘Partakers’

I set up Partake Ministries up in 2007. I had recorded some audio files as part of a block placement during my 3rd year at Moorlands. 6 months later I looked back on the site and discovered that the 16 audio files had been downloaded several thousand times, mainly in a country where evangelical Christians are persecuted. It was also part of my dissertation investigating if Virtual Church could be part of the universal church—the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.

I still took the normal route post-Bible college and applied for pastor jobs around the UK. I often was interviewed but the two main reasons given when I was successful were that I was too radical (as in application and use of internet/digital space etc), too much of a teacher or both! It was like “You can’t seriously use the internet to evangelize and disciple others!” Bit like when the printing press came out and the church’s collective bellybutton puckered and said “You can’t give the bible to people; they may actually read it!” So, I continued doing the Podcasts.

I have an accountability team set up by the church we attend, for mentoring, prayer, guidance, advice and accountability. I also have people on Facebook & Twitter to keep an eye on what I say and do to see that those things are within biblical confines.

The digital media tools I use

Blogging, podcasting, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter… I consider Facebook my online church and have many opportunities to encourage the Christian family as well as have good dialogue and friendships with many non-Christians who would never darken the door of a church. Yet those same people, message me prayer requests and ask questions which they know I will answer honestly.

Podcasting is what I do mainly, but as with all the other things, I don’t do them for myself. Rather, I do it to share what God has given me to others, both those I know and those I don’t know, so that when I stand before Him, He will say “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have bought me much honour with the things I gave you.” 

Thoughts on the nexus of digital media and Christianity

The New Testament church was relevant to their community, radical in applying Scripture in those efforts and were willing to take Spirit-led risks – the 3 R’s if you like. I am passionate that the 21st century church should be the same and using digital media and digital space is one way to do that. I am sure you have heard me say this before, but with the advent of digital space and social networking, the only real barrier to practically loving others is a limited imagination. Moltmann once said that the church needs to embrace a creativity for doing the impossible and with social networking and digital space we can do just that.

 

 My experiments with getting the Bible online

Firstly there was POD or Psalms On Demand. With the help of St Pixels, the church I attend and a few other people around the globe, we have managed to get all the Psalms recorded. Including Psalm 119 which was done by a Los Angeles Youth Group and Psalm 117 which was recorded by the 9 year old autistic daughter of a friend of mine! As I said previously, using digital media allows almost anybody to use their talents and gifts for the glory of God!

Secondly there is BAM! Which is Bible Book a Minute, where I summarise the key point of the book and offer 2 key verses! As I usually speak about 180 words a minute it is possible! Plus there have been several series including a set of 25 studies “Scriptural Delights” based on Psalm 119; a series 18 studies called JOG (Jesus Overview in the Gospels) and a 12 module discipleship course with 6 studies in each module.

Where I see Christian work in digital space going over the next few years 

The world is rapidly changing and church history shows us that where the local church fails to adapt and be relevant to their local community, they either become merely a local cultural curiosity or they simply close up. By embracing these new technologies and using them for God’s glory alone, churches and Christianity can thrive and continue to thrive.

There are people in our communities who can’t get to a church – such as the housebound and geographically isolated. Using Digital Space is one way to show that the church is radically caring for these people. Poets, artists, photographers have talents which can be shared through digital space. The ability to help somebody, even if we don’t know who it is, is no longer limited by distance or geography, but only by our imagination.

Technology is only going to increasingly develop and we can use it for the glory of God – the originator of imagination and sciences!

Dave Roberts is the founder of Partakers http://www.partakers.co.uk/ (2007) and has been involved as a Christian in digital space for 17 years. Originally from Australia, he came to the UK for 6 months travel – back in 1990! Formerly a worker with the Royal Mail, he is an honours graduate from Moorlands College, with a pioneering interest in virtual ecclesiology. Partakers website has had over 300,000 visitors; part of its vision is to use digital technology to enhance Christian discipleship and the extension of God’s Kingdom, and to envisage how churches and Christians can unite the offline and online worlds. Part of Partakers is a WOWClinic to help churches and Christians do just that.