Emerging Africa

I'm disturbed by the fact that there is so little accountability amongst Christians in the blogging world. This is a public sphere with a far reach. Everything that happens on-line is archived pretty much forever. I'm thinking of that cliche: Your life may be the only Bible some people read. Well, Christian blog may be the only Bible some people read. And what they're reading sometimes gives me shivers. If we were sitting face-to-face over coffee we'd probably be a lot more gentle and kindly to one another.

I'd like to invite bloggers who would like to be responsible to join me in committing to accountability relationships with other bloggers. This would include the commitment of not posting anything while in the heat of an emotion, being open to feedback and gentle critique from their accountability partners in terms of our content but also our tone, writing what is on your heart off-line and then leaving it for at least a few hours to prayerfully consider it before publishing it on-line. What other things could we add here?

The on-line world often gives a sense of urgency, a sense that we must post a response right now, immediately, at once. But the response that we would write after a few hours of thoughtful reflection is more likely to be the one that reflects Christ. The question I'm starting to ask myself with every blog post and every comment that I leave (after being burnt and burning others so many times!) is whether I am contributing to the healing of the world, or its destruction. May we always seek to reconcile, to bring hope and life, even to this slightly bizarre on-line world.