theonology Theology and technology for the glory of God

Seth Godin talks about tribes

I’ve been hugely impressed by watching some Seth Godin presentations on-line recently.  It’s hard to label Seth and what he does, short of saying his blog is about “riffs on marketing, respect, and the ways ideas spread.“  It’s kind of modern sociological study, that’s presented in a very accessible way.  It’s actually quite hard to get hold of many of his presentations but I managed to find this one on the Joel on Software blog.

I’m not sure to what degree you can apply this to the church, but it certainly helps if like me, you’re keen on building interesting web applications. Here are some of the highlights for me from the talk:

• 20 mins: Don’t try and force a new medium to your ends, but change your business to suit the new medium (the web)
• 28 mins: Give people something to talk about – tell stories.  People will tell a story about you.  Give them a story you want them to tell.
• 34 mins: Don’t think “how many people can I interrupt with my message?“, but “who can I interrupt?“
• 39 mins: We have no right to build a fancy website and expect everyone to come.  The rules have changed.
• 41 mins: Don’t ask “how can I find more customers for my product?” but “how can I find better products for my customers?“

If I we’re pushed on what could apply to the church (and I think we have to be careful) it would be the stuff he talks about at the end of the video.  He gives a introduction to his next project called ‘Tribes‘.  He says some fascinating stuff about the nature of people groups at about 50 mins.  Perhaps this can help us as Christians understand the nature of people groups in our ever changing world.  John Stott says that as Christians we need to be good ‘double listeners‘ – meaning that we need to make sure we take the unchanging truths of the Word and apply them to our ever changing world.

He’s actually written a book on ‘Tribes‘.  You can get the book on Amazon but it’s available as an audio book that you can actually get legally and for free here.  Here’s the audio if you’re feeling a little lazy:

[audio:http://free.bou.me/Tribes-WeNeedYouToLeadUs-FreeVersion-Unabridged.mp3]

There’s also an eBook that goes along with it that contains case studies to go along with the book.

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