THE Kirk should embrace the internet and social networking websites to get its message out beyond the congregations, its Youth Assembly has said.
The body has issued a report saying sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube should be used to stream live events, broadcast sermons and set up discussion boards to reach those who are not normally touched by the Kirk.
Use of the int
ernet is one of the main issues to be discussed by Church officials at the General Assembly later this month.
The outgoing Moderator, the Rt Rev David Lunan, already has a weekly blog – the Mod Blog – on the Church of Scotland website.
The Youth Assembly also issued the challenge that every church in the Kirk should have its own website by 2010.
The proposals came after the Youth Assembly – with members aged between 16 and 25 – met last September in Dundee.
Organiser Steve Mallon said they already saw social networking as an integral part of their lives. "The members of the Youth Assembly felt that the church needs to start making better use of this technology. I think they experience it at a very deep level of their lives and feel that it has something to offer to the wider community," he said.
"Anything that helps give people a glimpse into what's going on in the church is good.
"It wouldn't be a chance for the church to have a monologue – it would be about dialogue."
Mr Mallon said Twitter – which allows people to share short messages via computers and mobile phones – had been used during Youth Assembly to add an extra dimension.
"It helped to democratise the whole thing and allowed people who might otherwise not have a voice because they were too scared to speak, to comment on proceedings," he said.
Youth Assembly member Chris Hoskins, 25, of Aberdeen, said Kirk members were already using social websites to speak to each other.
"The Church of Scotland hasn't got much more than a basic website. But there are quite a few unofficial Church of Scotland social website groups that are based around the Youth Assembly and General Assembly, so they are quite well used already," he said.
Mr Hoskins
said the Kirk had to make sure it did not treat social websites as a fad.
"I think there is a danger of the church being seen to court fashion, and that means the Kirk can't use it for the sake of using it just because it's a fashionable thing," he said. "It has to still be the church and maintain its ethos. If it tries to treat it like a fad, people will see right through it."
The report comes just days after the Kirk proposed the creation of "virtual ministries" – linking far-flung congregations by video to share services, Bible readings and even hymns – as a solution to a lack of ministers.
While the Youth Assembly report called for the Kirk to embrace the internet, it also proposed a weekly Sabbath break from unnecessary use of technology "in a bid to keep personal relationships at the heart of the Church's ideals".
• Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been invited to speak at the Church of Scotland's annual General Assembly meeting.
The veteran African churchman is due to attend the last day of the conference as a guest of former presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament George Reid.
Coffee, IT and last suppers … Moderator's blogging highlightsWHILE the Kirk's steps into cyberspace have been tentative so far, the Moderator David Lunan, pictured, has taken on the challenge of writing a blog of his experiences over the year. They perhaps give a taste of what is to come:
DECEMBER, 2008: Several times in the last week, we have pinched ourselves to check if this was real. Who are we to be having coffee with the Archbishop of Canterbury, or lunch with the Secretary of State for Scotland, or visiting Number 10 Downing Street?
Being in London, and especially around the City, brought the current economic situation much closer, and it was indeed the topic of many of our conversations – the sense of uncharted territory, the wariness about simplistic solutions, and the sense of powerless over these past few years to halt the "monster".
FEBRUARY: On Monday I was looking forward to a free evening, but when I came home from the office I found Maggie immobilised by a sore back. To the surprise of Ratho Guild and their guests I became their speaker for the evening!
MARCH: On Tuesday I was invited to open The Learning Zone within the church offices, fully equipped with IT facilities, set up to be a training area for departments as well as being available for members of staff to pursue their own professional development, and out of hours for their own use.
MAY: It's been a quieter week, with a sense of "last time" as we hosted our concluding meal at the flat and I preached at my final centenary celebration at Duthil Church in Carr-Bridge. We were glad of the time as we left the Moderator's Flat to allow the Moderator Designate and his family to settle in before the start of the General Assembly.
