Regular readers will have observed that from time to time I include guest posts here on Faithroots. That might include where I’ve simply wanted to give someone a platform or to share something that I thought was worth wider reading. It might also include occasions where I thought it was fair to offer a right of response to encourage further conversations. Those guest articles show that the offer is sometimes taken up. However, just as frequently, such offers are declined which is the prerogative of course of those I make them to. I also have made a general appeal, particularly on the general subject of Classical Theism and specifically regarding temptation and desire, for someone to come on here and represent the other side of the debate. I’m still waiting for someone, anyone to take me up on the invitation.
Now, as I said, it is the prerogative of others to decline or ignore such offers. However, I thought it would be worth picking up on one kind of response I’ve had. A couple of people, when sating “no thank you” have suggested that blogs are not really the place to engage. This is similar to the way in which some people will argue that facebook and twitter/X are not the places to have debate and discussion. I think that this results from a misunderstanding about blogging and a common perception that there is about it in some circles, particularly dare I say, from those engaging in more academic dialogue. The result is that blogs are seen as unfruitful and even looked down upon.
The presumption tends to be that blogging must, by nature by polemic and will not provide space for nuanced discussion. Now, a lot of blogging is polemic. It is also fair to say that in my own experience, I am likely to see higher levels of traffic and in fact spikes in views if I tackle particular hot topics. For example, when I wrote about Israel and the end times, I saw such a spike in readership, especially from the US that this led to a doubling of visits to the site last year. Hot potato topics, especially concerning current affairs can also prove to be a two edged sword. If late 2023 saw a surge in visits to Faithroots based on commentary re Israel following the Hamas attacks, the last month has seen a reduction by about a third in visits, again primarily driven by a drop off in traffic from the US. It may just be coincidental but this does seem to have followed on from my recent engagement with US Evangelicals about their support for Donald Trump. The internet giveth and the internet taketh away.
However, whilst many bloggers do focus on topical commentary, this does not mean that this is what blogging is about. A blog is really just a website that is update regularly with new articles. It is possible to write about anything from sport, to politics. There are a number of blogsites that are focused on Christianity. Some like Ministry Nuts and Bolts by Chris Green offer practical wisdom for church leaders, others dig deep into theological issues such as Think Theology hosted by Andrew Wilson or Biblical Studies with Ian Paul on his Psephizo site. Then there are lots of people who are simply writing, daily weekly, monthly, I guess in the same way that in the past people might journal, telling their stories, engaging with the world around them, sharing their thoughts and opinions. Those are perhaps the kinds of sites that we tend to think of when we talk about “blogging” and I think they are the ones that people have in mind when they get dismissive of it. However, they are surely doing what people have always done. There are people who like to write, for themselves and for others. In the past, some of them might write for comment magazines. Others, might just keep a personal journal. The benefit of it being online is that it is available for others to read and in my experience, I benefit from reading the thoughts of people who I wouldn’t have had the chance to in the good old days when we just had print media.
If you are looking for good blogs of that type, I recommend Steve Kneale’s Building Jerusalem or Alistair Chalmer’s blog. Tim Challis as well as developing quite a significant readership as a blogger in his own right also gives a lot of time to linking to articles and blogs that you might not spot yourself.
In the case of Faithroots, my original aim was to provide more in depth teaching content, initially for our church family, recognising that we could not possibly cover all the things that we might want encourage church members to think about in a 30-minute sermon or even in a second service and a midweek meeting. I wanted to help church members think about theology, ethics, pastoral care, church history and so on. Even when commenting on current affairs, my concern was to help people think about how we can have a Christian worldview. I actually paused the site after a couple of years as I wasn’t too sure whether it was serving our local church’s needs even if I was starting to get readers visiting the site from further afield.
The other development has been my concern to see people trained and equipped for Gospel ministry whether as paid pastors and church planters or voluntary leaders. Specifically, I wanted to serve those who had an interest in reaching urban contexts and who might for various reasons not be able to access traditional forms of teaching and training such as seminary and even many of the books and journals coming from a more academic perspective. With that concern to serve those kinds of people came a linked desire to try and promote church planting and revitalisation in urban contexts, particularly here in the West Midlands. Indeed, I guess a further reason for welcoming guest posts is to raise the profile not just of Faithroots but of urban church planting in the West Midlands.
Because Faithroots is primarily about teaching and training, this means I feel under no pressure to put a word limit on articles or comment on every topic going. It also means that I tend to dive into particular subjects over a period of time, so you will find that often I’ll produce a series of articles which may then be collected together as chapters for one of the e-books provided freely from the publications page.
The point I’m making is that the internet and specifically blogging is exactly where Christians are engaging and not just at a trivial level. They are looking to engage with in depth, rigorous content. There are many Christians who are unlikely to buy books or attend symposiums, in fact might not be able to access either but who are wanting to engage and not just out of idle intellectual curiosity but wanting to think through tricky subjects in order to grow in their own walk with the Lord or be better equipped to serve his church. So if not on blogs and via social media, then where are we going to have those in-depth conversations?
Faithroots 