Other "Thinking Drafts" and writing by Keith Drury -- http://www.indwes.edu/tuesday .

The Network Church

The newest device we'll see coming on the computer scene this year will be the 'net computer', a scaled down version of a PC which will be more like a TV-top VCR than an office computer.

The network PC is a $500 'Internet box,' designed to meet three basic needs: Email, Word Processing, and a browsing the web. Rather than storing the two million lines of code for Microsoft Word on your own hard drive, the 'network computer' hopes you'll hook into a local server and use their software, much like offices now use an in-office network server.

Apple, Oracle, and Sun Microsystems are all betting big on the idea and IBM, (always a lover of leasing/metered service) is flirting with the concept. Weighing in on the other side, Microsoft and Intel, (with the most to lose), are publicly dismissing the idea (while furiously working behind the scenes, just in case they're wrong).

The central idea is simple: produce a scaled down version of the PC providing only the basic services most people need, then give access to a gigantic super-server and the Internet for more sophisticated uses. I don't know if it will make it or note -- computers may just get cheaper so that whole computers will cost under $500. But whatever happens, think about the idea: 'Small and simple is better so long as it is hooked up to something else big and more complex.'

And this is where the church comes in. Are we about the see the rise of the 'Network Church' among smaller churches. They'll simply forget trying to compete with the star-studded razzmatazz programs of the nearby super church. Instead, they'll simply pile their people into a couple vans and go watch the flying angels-on-a-wire or the Hydraulic ascension at a nearby super church, stopping at Pizza Hut on the way home for a cozy fellowship time while the super church's 'cast' cleans up after the camels. Will the "smaller half' of America's churches -- those under 100 -- start forming alliances with larger 'Server churches', like they used to have with denominational districts and conferences. The smaller churches will offer the basic services people need most -- the religious equivalent of Email, word processing, and Internet access) -- then these 'average churches' could network with a larger church or organization for the fancy stuff like pageants, concerts, hearing visiting-famous-Christians, day care, Christian school, and counseling centers. Perhaps we will see more gigantic 'servers' like Promise Keepers coming on line -meetings a church can plug into once a year, then focus on simpler local 'Word processing' the rest of the year. Is this already happening in the 'Cell church movement.' Will smaller churches pick up on the 'network church' idea? Might there even be official alliances between smaller churches and larger server-churches, or are nearby mega-churches considered 'competition?'

So what do you think?

To contribute to the thinking on this issue e-mail your response to Tuesday@indwes.edu