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July 2009 issue

Features
Jon M. Sweeney
Jon M. Sweeney
Is Facebook...church?
Meaningful connections may not be enough

I’ve been feeling guilty lately about spending so much time on Facebook. And wondering why.

Simply put: I think Facebook is better at being church for me right now than my brick-and-mortar church. Or, more honestly, perhaps I’m better at being at “church” on Facebook than I am at my congregation. Does this make any sense?

Jon Sweeney wonders about his Facebook
Jon Sweeney wonders about his Facebook “congregation”: Is it more real than the one he attends on Sunday...or less?
My congregation is a fairly typical mainline American church. In other words, there’s nothing freshly wrong. I’ve been there for 12 years, and it’s kind of the way it’s always been.

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