Does Jeff Jarvis Speak to the Church?

The subtitle of What Would Google Do? is: "Reverse-Engineering the Fastest-Growing Company in the History of the World." Jeff Jarvis proposes to disclose the secret of Google's corporate success and to apply the principles he identifies to other sectors of  the corporate and commercial world.

Some of his observations do not apply in a direct way to the comparatively non-commercial endeavours of the Christian Church. However, Jarvis also proposes that as a consequence of the Google experience that the typical consumer in our culture has acquired new expectations. While the church may not have customers in the usual sense of the word it does propose to interact with this same populace.  Jeff Jarvis` key observations need to be evaluated to determine whether or not they ought to shape how the Christian Church understands contemporary culture.
Who better than the author to introduce the book:

A Common Challenge

Huge amounts of energy are expended in justifying and repudiating the alternative perspectives represented within contemporary Christianity. Those endeavours, though often more vitriolic than they ought to be, are certainly not a complete waste. Definition and clarification are crucial within any movement that proposes to gather a community of commitment and support.

However, the contentions between liberals and conservatives, traditionalists and deconstructionists, seem to proceed oblivious to the reality that all of these options face a common challenge. How will Christianity, of whatever stripe,  flourish or even survive in the new reality that can be described as the age of Google?

Where it All Begins

The ideas that I hope to explore in this blog are ones that I have been pondering for some time. I was, however, nudged in the direction of presenting them in a blog format after reading Jeff Jarvis's book, What Would Google Do? His emphasis on the importance of collaboration led me to the conclusion that it was better to express my thoughts in an environment that permitted comment and response.

My objective is not to present a treatise or some well worked out response to the issues facing Christianity in the age of Google. Instead, as individual observations are shared it is hoped that they will coalesce with increasing clarity. As the project progresses perhaps others will be motivated to offer constructive comments or critical observations which will enhance the outcome.