Today’s guest blogger is Jeremy Walker who blogs at The Wanderer and is a Pastor at Maidenbower Baptist Church in Crawly, Sussex, England.  Jeremy is a co-author of A Portrait of Paul and his new book, The Brokenhearted Evangelist is due for publication soon.  As ever, thanks for taking the time and thought to answer my questions, Jeremy.

1.         How did you get into blogging?

I was dragged into the vortex through reading other blogs and getting to know one or two bloggers face to face (and getting to know that one or two people I knew face to face moonlighted as bloggers). It seemed to me that profitable information was being shared and helpful discussion taking place in this environment, and so I dipped a toe or two, experimented briefly, and then plunged in. That said, I think my first ever posts might be regarded as the least-read scraps of interweb ephemera ever!

2.         Why do you blog? What is, if you like your ‘Mission Statement’ as a blogger?

The closest I get to a ‘mission statement’ on the blog itself – after a long preamble! – is this: “This blog, then, is a record of my travels, combats and labours as I walk through many regions and countries in the wilderness of this world as a pilgrim and stranger. I hope it will prove a help and encouragement to fellow travellers on our way to the heavenly Jerusalem.”

I also hope that such a record, with its occasional direct exhortations, will be an encouragement to those not yet on the pilgrim path to join us on the heavenward journey.

3.         What do you see as the strategic benefits of Christian blogging?

The question of strategy presumes a degree of coordination which I am not persuaded exists (at least at the human level) in much blogging, Christian or otherwise. It seems to me that blogs tend to belong to informal networks or hierarchies, many of which overlap, often at specific points. You see that just looking at the links on any given blog.

However, I do think that there are benefits. Where there is genuine engagement with and careful thought about matters, a fertile environment can exist in which you can observe the development of ideas, see what careful assessors and analysers are turning their eyes and minds upon, learn what is taking place in other parts of the kingdom of God, share particular needs and concerns at speed, become intelligently aware of issues and problems that might be or definitely are heading your way, and get prompted toward clarity and profundity in your own thinking. At the risk of employing an abused term, there can be a healthy conversation that takes place between people who otherwise would not have an opportunity readily to connect with one another.

At the same time, blogging can be a proving ground for thinkers and contributors and perhaps more substantial authors. Both style and substance can be developed in the short form. If you read a number of blogs, even taking into account one’s own appetites and expectations, you can quickly tell who has something to say and an incisive way to say it. Hopefully, the cream rises to the surface (and that is a matter of quality, not first and foremost quantity). Of course, the ability to discern and appreciate quality is required!

4.         What are some of the problems and weaknesses you see as you survey the Christian blogging scene?

I think that there are several, some of them overlapping.

One is that those informal and formal networks and hierarchies create the kind of overlaps that can lead to a degree of nepotism and of navel-gazing. Everyone ends up reading and referring to a limited circle, and often offering endorsements and encouragements (and receiving criticisms) across and within but not outside of it. A lot of it is not half so catholic as it might be and probably needs to be. You end up with a lot of mutual backslapping and not too much iron-sharpening.

Then, in such an environment, a few – often already dominant – voices can create an agenda almost at will. Put the right issue or piece of information in the right place and everyone will notice it and cross-pollinate and that issue becomes the key issue for a few hours or days. That might be a good thing if genuine dangers are being flagged up, but it can also be abused from within and taken advantage of from without. Issues, people and events can quickly receive a disproportionate amount of attention, and perspective – both on those issues and on others that perhaps are worthy of more attention than they receive – can quickly be lost.

Both of these things have served, in degree, to create and maintain the celebrity culture that seems increasingly characteristic of many Christian and nominally Christian circles. Each tribe has their hero or set of heroes. Esteem and respect for men gifted, gracious and useful can become an inordinate elevation, with the result that the whole ‘tribe’ (and, perhaps, related groups) can go into attack or defence mode when that individual or group is in the line of fire. Reasonable engagement often goes out of the window. And where there is so much hanging on and about individuals, the sins of gossip and slander often come to the fore, and the kingdom is treated as if it is in the hands of men, which it is not.

A further problem has to do with the number of unqualified and evidently ill-equipped people being given, or just taking, a public voice. That is the downside of the flat nature of blogging: anyone can step up and start speaking, and while that can produce some unexpected gems they tend to be the few bright spots in the torrents of muck. Often the most strident and/or most productive in terms of sheer volume (and, it sometimes feels, the least-instructed) obtain a platform as bloggers or commenters or both. Many of them are kickstarted by the mention of a single word or phrase or name, or the raising of a particular topic, prompting a Pavlovian reaction of disturbing proportion. The cream ought to rise to the surface, but there is a lot of sour milk that washes around in the process. Tie that in with a lack of consideration and discernment (not least among so-called discernment ministries) and you have a pretty potent mix.

The blogosphere can then quickly become a gigantic battleground, with a few pitched battles and great deal of sniping and guerrilla warfare, in which a good number of people seem simply to be roaming around looking for a fight to start or to join. Little thought seems to be given as to whether we have the right or capacity to get involved. Even when the discussions are legitimate or the quarrels necessary, it does not entitle all of us to engage in them. There are stories not ours to tell and combats not ours to start, participate in or finish. By virtue of gift, relationship, position or earned credibility, some people have either the right or the duty to speak to certain issues; the rest of us would do well to keep silent, because then even fools can appear wise.

And the weird thing is, that these things can all appear so many storms in teacups. The linearity of blogging means that the issue which dominated all thought and feeling at every moment last week can be almost entirely transcended by this week’s cause. Rare indeed is the subject which has an electronic shelf-life beyond a few days, sometimes a few hours. It flares up and fades away with equal speed, often leaving a lot of scorched earth behind.

5.         Is there a gap in the scene; an area of Christian life or ministry that is not being adequately addressed?

I could not say. I tend to go the blogs I need or appreciate, and try to be pretty brutal about not reading what is not necessary. There are probably specialists (or, at least, would-be specialists) covering almost everything somewhere or other, processing material on individuals or particular themes. I am sure that somewhere there is a blog devoted to demonstrating the superiority of supralapsarianism over infralapsarianism, probably locked in mortal combat with someone else persuaded of the opposite position, each one producing vast tracts of argument of their own and in response to each other, with a few others chipping in. It could all get a bit Dickensian.

In all honesty, I wonder if there are enough blogs that are producing solid, winsome, positive declarations of the truth, rather than observing, assessing, reviewing and commenting on ephemera or hunting down and exposing people or things. There is, doubtless, a time and place for identifying and exposing error, and when those times and places are reached the task should be accomplished swiftly and well. But I think it possible that we spend too much time working on what is new or what is wrong with everyone else, and not enough bringing forth the enduring light that by its very nature shatters and chases the darkness.

6.         What advice would you give to someone considering starting blogging?

Think about it very carefully. Work out why you want to do it, and if it revolves around the elevation or promotion of self, or just talking in the hope that someone will listen, do not bother. If some of the things that I have mentioned above are going to have you gnashing at your writing fingers every ten minutes, save yourself the hassle.

Ask yourself honestly, “Does anyone listen to me offline?” The local church is the environment in which a believer first demonstrates their credibility. So, if your voice does not carry there – and especially if that is because you are immature, a bigmouth, a fathead, inconsistent, or a contentious man – then do not try to create an online alter ego where you get to sound off or vent your spleen.

Start writing. See whether you have anything to say and are able to say it cogently. Try it out quietly and in the background. Ask those with “the oil on their heads” to give you an honest opinion. Don’t try to build an uberblog and then unleash it on the world. Earn your credibility over time.

Pause before posting. Especially if you are writing something that is polemical or critical, or even a review of someone else’s work, leave it to stew for a few days, then come back to it and read it over, and ask whether or not you have been fair, if you have spoken out of turn, if there is anything unnecessarily cutting, if you have been sufficiently robust, if you would be willing to be assessed and analysed in the same spirit and with the same tone. That’s a useful grid to push everything through.

Be careful of the numbers. To be sure, it is one way of assessing whether or not you are being heard, but you can become far too aware of it, and then a slave to it. Once numbers are the idol, integrity will fade quickly.

7.         What are your favourite 5 Christian blogs?

Hmmm. That’s tricky. I don’t know if I have strict favourites – my reading is a little too utilitarian for that. Besides, I am generally biased in favour of people I know a little – that gives me an appetite for what they write. In alphabetical order (and without saying that I know all these fellows):

• Challies.com. Tim Challies is not just a clearing house for all things Reformed and sort-of Reformed and of-interest-to-the-(sort-of-)Reformed on the web, he has some interesting, insightful and often courageous commentary. I have grown to appreciate his independence of spirit. There are occasional dips in the writing – a few misfires, as it were – but that’s the price for disciplining yourself to pull something out of the bag every day, which is pretty impressive.
• DeYoung, Restless and Reformed. Kevin DeYoung is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old (Mt 13.52). Like some of the other better bloggers, he produces material of a high quality with great regularity, and is not afraid to be a dissenting voice within his own circles. He has a depth of reading and keen historical sense which gives him a perspective that others often lack. Again, his honesty and clarity are refreshing, while his ability to say much in brief scope is worthy of emulation.
• HeadHeartHand by David Murray. David’s productivity (volume and efficiency) astounds me. This is a useful combination of original material and helpful links (with appropriate assessments) with some thorough and thoughtful treatments of important issues, often challenging me to think further or more clearly. He also has a knack for appropriating the shrewdness of the sons of the world for the sons of light (Lk 16.8) which I appreciate even when I cannot or do not benefit.
• Practical Shepherding by Brian Croft. Brian is a pastor in Louisville, Kentucky, and effectively mentors young pastors online (an outworking of some of the work he does in his own congregation). There are few pyrotechnics or histrionics, just solid counsel and basic advice, often birthed in the cauldron of recent or present pastoral experience. There is a refreshing honesty and integrity to Brian’s nuggets, and he benefits from a definite audience and clear intention in his writing.
• Reformation21. Perhaps it helps that the bulk of the writing is done by fellow-Brits (including several abroad), and that I can plug into the tone and the style. A wide range of material is covered in the blog and in the articles. This is more of a magazine style effort, and so the quality is often higher (though it does seem that Carl Trueman often wonders quite how Paul Levy got the gig). These gentlemen are straight-talking, are not afraid to slay sacred cows, and tend to be genuinely stimulating even when I disagree or when they are simply hefting chips on shoulders.
• Honourable mentions would go to Conrad Mbewe, whose thoughtful perspectives from another culture often make me assess my foundations; the Pyromaniacs, whose spiky straightforwardness and no-messing mentality usually get the juices flowing; and, a bundle of British friends whose concerns and circumstances often overlap with mine.

(Previous guest bloggers: Trevin Wax, Peter Mead, Mike Riccardi)