Workshop Leader- Alexey Petrides

Posted on April 27, 2012 by RevEverett

In advance of the Massachusetts Council of Churches Annual Meeting on Saturday April 28 at the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church we’re highlighting the amazing folks who will lead us. You can register for “Christian Unity in the Digital Age” here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2934937477

Our final profile is of Alexey Petrides, the webmaster of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Weston and a seminarian at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. I confess, Alexey and I have not met yet in person! I stumbled upon the digital ministry of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church through their Facebook page. As we develop the MCC’s Facebook ministry, I’ve been ‘liking’ local congregations so that we can see how they are presenting themselves and what God is up to in their congregations. When I found St. Demeotrios, I was very impressed with all they were doing with social media. And I also confess, I had not expected this from a Greek Orthodox church. As Fr. Alex quipped to me “Orthodoxy isn’t exactly known for its innovation!” They have an active blog, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter ministry. But my favorite innovation from St. Demetrios is their live webcam where you can see the building of their new church, day or night. Alexey has been an integral part of building up St. Demetrios digital ministry. I am confident that his workshop will be helpful to pastors and lay leaders wondering how to integrate digital media into the life of their congregation. Join us on Saturday 4/28 to attend Alexey’s workshop. Register here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2934937477

Alexey Petrides

Webmaster, St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, Weston, MA / Seminarian, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, MA www.stdemetriosweston.org

Short bio : Alexey is the son of a Greek Orthodox priest. He graduated from Penn State University with a bachelors degree in Civil Engineering. Despite receiving a Fulbright scholarship to continue his education in water resources, the tug of the heart pulled him to Holy Cross to work towards a Masters of Divinity in 2009, refocusing on Christ. Alexey has a passion for both technology and ministry. He married his wife, Stephanie, in 2010 and they welcomed their son, Niko, in April, 2011. After being members of St. Demetrios for two years, helping with various multi-media projects and his technical background led to a recommendation to more formally assist as the webmaster. Ultimately, Alexey prays he can live out his Christian Orthodox vocation by answering Christ’s call to love God with all that he is and by loving his neighbor as himself in every situation he is in.

Workshop : A case study of the online resources used by St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church of Weston, MA. The spiritual, social and technological challenges in spreading the Word of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the 21^st Century to a variety of age groups and backgrounds. From engaging the youth in learning, to providing Orthodox Christian education for those not able to attend services, social media and the internet have provided another outreach opportunity for those involved in Christ’s ministry.

Workshop Leader- Rev. Ian Lynch

Posted on April 25, 2012 by RevEverett

Next up is Rev. Ian Lynch, a United Church of Christ pastor at First Congregational Church in Brimfield, MA. I’ve bumped into Ian at a number of UCC gatherings in Massachusetts over the past few years and thought highly of his humor, joy in pastoring and commitment to the Church. But what really caught my attention was his ministry following the tornadoes in Western Massachusetts. When we started planning the MCC’s annual meeting, a colleague reminded us of that the Church’s divisions in Massachusetts are theological, denominational, political, racial, generational and often geographic. This colleague spoke of the sense that the churches in the eastern part of the Commonwealth didn’t know how the churches in the central and western part of the state were still struggling with high unemployment and the destruction from the storms. We knew we wanted to try and bridge that geographic divide. Ian’s digital ministry fits in perfectly. Following the tornadoes, he used social media to connect with his congregants and the wider community. A new kind of pastoral care is possible with social media. Ian and the First Congregational Church of Brimfield give us an example of how to show God’s love in the midst of enormous chaos and pain.

Join us on Saturday 4/28 to attend Ian’s workshop.Register here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2934937477

Rev. Ian Lynch

brimfieldfcc.org

http://www.facebook.com/BrimfieldUCC http://brimfilled.blogspot.com/

http://culturedove.blogspot.com/

http://birdparables.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @CultureDoveShort bio: Ian has been pastor at First Congregational Church, UCC, Brimfield since 2002. Prior to that he ministered for nearly 15 years among homeless individuals at the Salem Mission, a ministry of Crombie Street United Church of Christ, Salem, MA. He also worked briefly for the Mass. Conference UCC and the Mass. Council of Churches. He has long been enamored of technology. Aside from learning BASIC in Junior High School and a single programming course in college, he is self-taught. An early adopter of social media, he has an active virtual life in addition to physical life filled with family, birdwatching and rock climbing.

Workshop: Social Media and Pastoral Care

When the tornadoes of June 1, 2011 struck, they left not only a shambles of physical wreckage but also communities shut off from the world as well as themselves. Grassroots organizing in the community was needed to start meeting the needs of victims. Reliable information became critical. Social media became one important way to organize and to tell the story. Pictures and personal stories put a face on the devastation, aiding in motivating volunteers. Facebook groups were used to put out requests for material and web pages sprung up overnight. This workshop will explore ways that community is assisted, shaped and supported through social media technologies. We will consider the advantage of instant mass communication during a disaster as well as the management problems that presents. We will also speculate about how the church might respond to and be shaped by the age of social media.

Workshop Leader: Marisa Egerstrom

Posted on April 24, 2012 by RevEverett

Next up is Marisa Egerstrom, leading her workshop Doing Jesus Stuff in Public (And Getting Away With It): Social Media Tools for Organizing. I first met Marisa in August of last year at an orientation for the individuals and institutions supporting the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts’ Life Together program. The Massachusetts Council of Churches is an internship site for Life Together and Marisa serves as one of the mentors to the young adult interns. I held onto Marisa’s card and thought “I should follow up with her.” Both of our lives took wild turns before we would meet in person again. Social media was one of the ways to stay connected in between meeting in person. I was going through the MCC’s search process for a new executive director and our transition to new leadership. On top of her doctoral program, Marisa became deeply involved with the Occupy movement. Soon, I was reading about Marisa and Protest Chaplain ministry on CNN’s Religion Blog. The Protest Chaplains are a fascinating story of (mostly) young, (mostly) lay leaders stepping out in faith to bring the Church’s concern for economic justice to the streets. Perhaps even more importantly than what they said was that the Protest Chaplains listened. Marisa and her colleagues took the time to be with the people in the Occupy encampments and listen to their struggles. They offered pastoral care.They have learned a lot about how the Church is perceived by those who struggle for justice but don’t identity with the Church. I had a great opportunity to sit down again with Marisa when the New England Chapter of Methodists for Social Action asked me to speak about “What the Church Can Learn from Occupy.” I am grateful to have Marisa as a dialogue partner. Her thinking is sharp. She cares about the Church as an institution but lovingly pushes it to new ways of witnessing. I have no doubt that Marisa’s workshop will help all of us think more theologically about how Christians faithfully participate in social media for social change.

Join us on Saturday 4/28 to attend Marisa’s workshop.Register here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2934937477

Marisa Egerstrom

Website:protestchaplains.blogspot.com

Online designations (Twitter, Facebook, blog, etc):

Twitter: @ProtestChaplain

facebook.com/protestchaplains & facebook.com/theoccupiedchurch

Short bio:

Having been trained in spiritual activism through a campaign with the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts’ Life Together program, Marisa Egerstrom initiated the Protest Chaplains, the only identifiable religious group present in the first weeks of Occupy Wall Street. Her piece written for CNN’s religion blog sparked the spread of the Protest Chaplains idea to cities across the U.S. and Canada as their Occupy encampments began. The Protest Chaplains have been featured in Occupy news in the UK Guardian, New York Times, and Washington Post, among other news outlets. Marisa is now working with Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation to launch a grassroots campaign to organize churches around the economic inequality issues raised by Occupy. Marisa is a PhD candidate in American Civilization at Harvard, where she is beginning her dissertation on the American military’s use of religion in Guantanamo Bay, and she is an active member of her Episcopal parish in Boston.

Workshop:Doing Jesus Stuff in Public (And Getting Away With It): Social Media Tools for Organizing

The hype about social media has made it all but impossible to know what value online networking tools might have, especially for those of us who still believe that showing up to church – in person – matters. The Occupy movement presents a fascinating parallel to the churchy dilemma: although Occupy is widely understood to have relied heavily on social media to organize, the movement itself also understands there is no substitute for the gathering of actual bodies in a physical space and the face-to-face relationships formed there. This workshop will examine the Protest Chaplains as a case study in how one group used social media to provide ministry in several ways. In addition to practical tips, this workshop will propose solidarity as an Incarnation-driven model for developing media strategies in your own justice work and ministry.

Recommended readings, followings, and resources:

Being interesting on Twitter:http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/889243-twitter-users-only-find-36-of-tweets-they-receive-interesting
For examples of very different ways to use Twitter:
@OccupyWallStNYC (group account)
@MonaEltahawy (1st person account from Egyptian revolution)
@AyeshaKazmi (international blogger, indie journalist)
@UrbanCongress (nonprofit)
@TwoFriars (name says it all)
@OccupyMBTA (campaign account)
@The66Bus (hilarious spoof/parody of local culture, note: often raunchy)
@iamepiscopalian (officialish)
@Virtual_Abbey (daily office tweeted out)
@__JesusChrist__ (irreverence done right)
@UnvirtuousAbbey (similar)

Interesting phenomenon on facebook:
facebook.com/TheChristianLeft

The video that sparked Tahrir Square protests:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/8/asmaa_mahfouz_the_youtube_video_that

Video that broke mainstream media blackout on Occupy Wall Street:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ05rWx1pig

RevEverett

ecumenical magpie

Monthly Archives: April 2012

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