Week 12: Performing Religious Identity through the Digital

 This week I will be summarizing my research on the Block Church thus far.

Through the use of media, the Block Church is able to show perspective members that this church is not like any other. Their mission statement, as stated directly on the website, is We are a spirit-led, gospel centered community, seeking a move of God. The Block is a place where social, economic, religious and political walls are torn down”.  So does their use of media accurately fit this statement? By observing the various forms of media that the Block church offers, it became clear that they do in a terrific job portraying this mission. On their website - http://theblockchurch.org - various photos and texts are portrayed on the site. These photos portray the various experiences people have when they come to the church. This includes things like singing, acting, and praying together. Tying back to the mission statement, the pictures portray people in normal everyday clothes, which shows that they do not expect people to spend any kind of money on clothing when they come to the church. The site also portrays various forms of texts which include things like, “We are servants to our city” “At the block we are passionate”. Also on the website are various videos that include a “Welcome to the Block” introductory video as well as the various sermon’s that have taken place recently. These videos serve more as an informational tool for members and prospective members, as the website makes it clear that to actually be a part of the Block, members must actually show up to the church and experience it first hand.  Aside from the website itself, the Block Church also has a strong influence on social media, particularly through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/theblockchurch/). On this page they present practically the same material that is present on their website, but what distinguishes the FB site from the website is the interactiveness of it. Users can post comments and ratings on the church, which gives prospective new members an honest review of how the church really is. Overall, through their up to date use of media, the Block Church is able to effectively show what they are all about.

Week 11: Analyzing The Block Church App

This week I will be observing the Block Churches Facebook page. The Block Church’s Facebook Page is organized similarly to their website. They have their website laid out so the “About The Block” section is first, user/member reviews, certain videos such as their introduction video (same as the one posted on the website) as well as their sermons from previous weeks, they have upcoming events listed, and lastly are there general facebook posts (i.e events coming up, certain inspiring phrases ect.) Considering Facebook has a pretty restrictive format in terms of how companies & originations like the Block Church are able to portray their message, I would say that The Block Church does a great job.

One of the most impressive aspects of this Facebook page is how user friendly/interactive it is. The Facebook page offers members and visitors the opportunity to leave comments on the page, allowing them to discuss their experience with the block church while also leaving some kind of rating. This is something that the Block Church website does not have on it, so this gives perspective members a way to see how members actually feel about the church. The page provides links to the churches emails and telephone numbers, and allows users to directly message the company via Facebook itself. On the website it states that when you direct message the page the company “typically replies within a day”. This quick response rate is a great indicator of how connected the church is to the internet.

After reviewing both the Block Church website, as well as their Facebook page I have come to find that their relationship between church and technology can be seen as bridging. The reason I say this is because the whole purpose of “The block” is how people physically come together and participate in various events, like performing a skit or singing a song together. Obviously the website does a phenomenal job of staying up to date with their content, but you can only learn about the block from the website, you can’t “Be The Block” without physically going to the church and participating. This distinction is why I would say the two are bridged together, but are still separate.

Summarizing: Assessing Church Identity and Mission Portrayed Online

The mission of the block church is to gain an understanding of God through a unique community known as "The Block". The website states "We are a spirit-led, gospel centered community, seeking move of God. The Block is a place where social, economic, religious, and political walls are torn down". The website depicts various photos (shown below) that highlight their main focus of community, as well as altruism. Whether it be photos of a person painting or a group of Block members performing a skit, the website does a phenomenal job showing what they are all about this church. Overall the content that is provided on the website does in fact compare to their mission statement.  

Week 10: The Use of Multimedia

Week 10: The Multimedia Presence

This week I will be examining the multimedia videos that are present on the Block Churches website. The first video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=91&v=reQbY7VRCOk) is an introductory video welcoming viewers to the block, and explains what it means to be apart of the church. This video does a great job of using text and video to make their mission clear. In each of the video captures below, you can see that they incorporated both visuals and text to get their point across. Based off the material incorporated in the video it is clear that the Block church puts great value in helping others through various volunteer events. The two photos below depict a member of the church carrying out tasks such as painting, and taking out the trash. In addition to being charitable, one of the other major themes present in this video is how the block church is all about forgetting the past and starting fresh with the other members of the Block. One of the texts that appears during the video states “It’s not about where you are from, we want you to come just as you are and never leave the same”. Overall this introductory video does a terrific job at highlighting what the church stands for.

The Second video I observed is one of their sermon’s titled “Stay in the Overflow – Go With The Flow” (https://www.youtube.com/watchlist=PLAl6F6cEv4wZCJC6QZWbsPfA8qttyoaT9&time_continue=29&v=rD2BKKp_mz0)  

At 5:50 the speaker states the main goal of the sermon which he states is, “I want you to not waste your overflow, I want you to learn to return it with gratitude. Following that statement he goes on to talk about certain passages in the Bible and wraps up with communion. Overall, the thing that stood out to me the most during this sermon was how casually dressed everyone was, even the speaker (as shown below) was wearing very casual attire. I think this highlights how the Block church is very progressive when it comes to most aspects. There was also a laptop and electronic keyboard right behind the speaker, again highlighting their progressive use of technology. When it came the text on this video, there would be certain phrases/passages that would pop in and out throughout the entirety of the video. The younger generation's attention span has grown smaller and smaller, so by putting the main points in text on the bottom helps the viewer get the main ideas of the sermon even if they weren't paying attention to the entire video.

Week 9: The Block Church's Mission

      This week I will continue to observe the Block church website, this time, observing the websites main mission. On the homepage of the Block Churches website it states, "We are a spirit-led, Gospel Centered Community, Seeking a move of God". Based off of this statement I believe that their main audience would be directed at people who are already Christians. In addition their website definitely is also targeting young people, the website states, "We don't think the church should be normal, nor boring".To me, this line is speaking primarily to the younger generations because younger people tend to be turned off to the "conservative" ways when it comes to religion.

(Man in this photo seen wearing an NFL jersey)

The main goal of this website is to get the viewer to understand that the block church is not only focused on learning/hearing the word of God, but also being involved with the other church members known as, "The Block". Each of their tabs had the term "block" on them (as seen below). This website does a phenomenal job of getting people to understand what the block is all about community. 

   The one thing I found to be a negative about this website is that it is difficult to figure out when exactly their services and other activities are. They do say that their masses are held at noon on Sundays, but they don't go into the specifics on when the block groups meet, pray, ect. That being said, they do lay out their various outreach and philanthropist opportunities within the church (as seen in the image below)

     The mission for the church, as stated on the website, is, "We will pursue God, connect with each other, hear a relevant message, and celebrate his activity in our lives. Philadelphia is not a boring city, so we desire to express our love for God in a passionate and unique way!". Going off of this statement, the website does a phenomenal job portraying this message through texts and images. Almost all the images present on the website showcase people learning/working together.

This image is a great example of how well the website portrays their message through media. Not only do they have text that tells the viewer what their mission is, they also provide a YouTube link to a video that showcases what the Block Church is all about. 

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