i have pondered this, but i actually said it yesterday to blake huggins while we were watching clif guy talk about the church of the resurrection new internet campus. i have not participated in the cor's internet campus but essentially it is a live streaming of the church's services. this isn't new, but it is a significant cost to enable the bandwidth, not to mention all the hardware (if you didn't already have that). for cor, they already had the cameras and projection stuff, they just needed to project out to the net.
another internet campus that i know if is lifechurch.tv internet campus. again, i've just visited, but not during worship times. so i can't say what all happens there, but it too is essentially a live stream as well. they do compliment it with a internet campus blog. one internet experience i have participated with lifechurch folks is their second life campus. i got to make one of their services which again, was a piped in live stream. the difference with that environment was that i could chit chat with people and see others worshipping. (that is kinda funny to think of but, suspend your disbelief, and go with me)
the thing with these two campuses is that they emminate from the same place. not a bad thing at all, its who they are.. but it had me thinking
what if the united methodist church, in order to build more actual connections across the global church, by setting up some internet campuses around the world? there would be something beautiful for me to tune into a church in kenya, russia, latin america, etc..
easter services could all be celebrated with a church in australia or korea as they are the first to welcome the sun of easter day.. and you & i could be there. how cool is that!
we would see & participate in some of the familiars that come with a traditional liturgical background and a common hymnal. but to familiarize and come to know the differences of our family church would just be incredible.. this could be even be enhance by offering in virtual environments where i can meet up with others, much like we did for general conference this past year.
consider this a charge united methodist church entities, help coordinate a global campus to bring together a fully connectional church.