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‘Church of Facebook’ author: We need time to disconnect

By Brian Orme, Contributing Writer Updated 7:26 PM Monday, November 2, 2009

In "The Church of Facebook", author and musician Jesse Rice delivers a valuable treatment on both the origins of Facebook, and the subtle but overwhelming effects that Facebook has on its users.

At the center of Rice's book is the question, "What is community and why do I need it so desperately?" In a world where the lines between our "virtual" and "real" relationships are increasingly blurred, it's a valuable question to ask.

In this conversation with Rice, he offers his thoughts on how Facebook has and is changing us, and what we can do to be intentional about the relationships we form both virtual and real.

Q: Facebook has an astounding 3 million users, and it's growing. What makes Facebook such a popular social networking app?

A: We were made to connect with one another, and now we've been given this very simple and powerful tool to do that. It's kind of the right tool meeting the right need at the right time. From the beginning, Facebook's goal was to be practical rather than cool, and I think that practicality has made it appealing to all ages.

Q: How is Facebook changing the way we connect in relationships?

A: It's challenging our boundaries, the way we think about ourselves and express ourselves, it's really shaping communication overall because we are beginning to communicate more and more in short bursts of information. In some ways we are becoming more content with quantity over quality.

Q: How is Facebook shaping the way we do church?

A: I think that part of the challenge to the church is - the gospel of Jesus is this embodied gospel, God came to show us his love by taking on flesh and being with us, and here we are interacting so much in this disembodied environment. I think the challenge for the church is to learn how to embody this gospel in the flesh in this digital world. I think part of the way we do that is to be intentional, humble and authentic in that space.

Q: Does Facebook foster deeper relationships?

A: The more people the less depth we can have. Even Jesus who was surrounded by crowds in his public ministry still only had a certain amount of energy and time and space and so he chose to spend that with 12 young guys and even within that 12 there where three in particular. We've only got so much capacity as human beings so that desire not to miss out on anything can actually keep us from entering into anything as well.

Q: How important is it to take time to disconnect from our virtual selves?

A: We need some intentional disconnect. There's a reason that God built Sabbath into the rhythm of our lives. I find that for myself, when I disconnect, my fear is always that I'm going to miss something and I think that's the key issue. I need to learn to trust this God who is always at work, even when I'm not connected.

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