Over at the Faith and Leadership blog, Tom Arthur talks a bit about foursquare and pastorial leadership:
…So what does foursquare have to do with pastoral leadership? Good question. I really wasn’t sure until I started. I began using foursquare because of a commitment I made to get out of the office and work more in the community. I now only spend about one day in the office each week. The rest of the time I’m hanging out in coffee houses, restaurants, on Michigan State University’s campus, or in the local library (did I mention I’m mayor of the library?). I’m doing this because I don’t read much in the Gospels about Jesus hanging out in the office. But living out this commitment brought on a particular problem: how do people know where I am if I’m rarely in the office and if they want to stop in and talk? My first thought was to simply post this info to facebook as a status update. But then I found foursquare which does the whole thing in a lot smoother package…
Makes for an interesting question, and something once brought up before in conversations online and offline with many of you whom are pastors – how can mobile make you available, if your location changes often? I’m not a pastor, but I am quite mobile. And it is through the use of URLs and social networks that I maintain a sense of being findable, while also present within the communities I frequent. Can the same expectatation be laid at the feet of pastorial staff (or even their admins and support staffs)?
Now, in the article linked, Arthur does mention that it was noticed that Jesus didn’t have an office (though, if we pay attention to the travels and stopping points, we can get a clue as to his movements and what was and wasn’t able to be easily tracked by others who might have need of him). Is it possible, or right, to assume that a pastor today can or should follow the same model of being present in their communities, but not by means of an address that remains? 4sq would be a means of seeing where your pastor has been – not necessarly that they’ve been an effective minister in those spaces. Then, there’s also the point of tracking the motions of a pastor – how far is too far, or should that even be addressed?
