What even is a blog?
Think of a blog as halfway between a webpage and a magazine. It's a way of publishing information to the internet via a page that is regularly updated as new content is added. The most recent article (or 'post') displays first and you'll find progressively later posts below that. Usually old posts aren't deleted, so if you keep scrolling down (or use the search bar if the blog has one) you'll often find there's a huge resource of material available on regularly updated blogs. The blogosphere is the collective term for all the blogs out there - a bit like the way we use the term 'the papers' ( e.g. 'have you seen the papers today?').
What is the purpose of the Emmanuel blog?
The Emmanuel blog exists to serve the Emmanuel church family by passing on to you resources that will help you to live all of your life for the Lord Jesus. For example - the preacher might use the blog to follow up a question asked on Sunday, or to explore further something he didn't have time to fully in the talk, by posting a few thoughts. I may share some music with you that I hope will send you off rejoicing in Jesus (as long as you like Hip Hop!) Or someone may post a video or re-post something from another blog that they think you'll find helpful.
Who posts on the Emmanuel blog?
So far mostly me (Sim) and Ed Shaw, sometimes the student team or the global mission team. If you have ideas for things that you'd like to see on the blog then please email me.
How can I make the most of blogs?
The best blogs are ones that are regularly updated, so if you're going to make use of blogs you need a system to monitor what is being posted on the blogs that you are interested in (typing in the addresses of a blog and visiting it every time you want to see whether anything new has been posted is a bit laborious, doing it for 4 or 5 blogs will get very time consuming). Here are my suggestions of how to keep an eye on one or several blogs in a way that won't cost lots of your precious time:
1. Create an igoogle 'blog page'
Sign up for a google account if you don't have one already (it takes seconds). Some blogs will have a 'subscribe' button (e.g. at the top of the Emmanuel blog) which will put the blog into igoogle for you, if not you can do this:
i) Find a blog you want to follow.
ii) Copy the address from the address bar (highlight it, right mouse click, 'copy')
iii) Go to www.igoogle.com
iv) Click 'add gadget'
v) In the menu on the left hand side of the screen click 'add feed or gadget'.
vi) Paste the blog address into the blank box and click 'add'.
vii) Repeat this for as many different blogs as you'd like to follow.
Your igoogle page will now consist of lots of little boxes, each one showing you the latest activity on a different blog. You may want to set igoogle as your homepage. (I've done this, but to prevent myself getting distracted, I've made the blogs page a secondary tab, so what displays when I first open the browser isn't a dozen different blogs but just a plain search page, but when I open the blogs tab, all the blogs I follow are there visible in one place.)
2. Use Google reader
This is absolutely brilliant for reading blogs on your smart phone or ipad. Download it as an app and search and subscribe to blogs from within it and all your blogs will be neatly displayed in one place available to be read wherever you are.
3. Read through Facebook
The Emmanuel blog is linked to Facebook so that as soon as new content is posted it also appears on facebook. To make it appear in your Facebook newsfeed you need to 'like' Emmanuel (just hit the 'like' button at the bottom of this page).
4. Read through Twitter
Pretty much the same as Facebook - to see Emmanuel tweets in your timeline follow @emmanuelbrizzle - button to do this at the bottom of this page.
Where to start! What blogs should I follow?
Here are some blogs written by Christians that I hope you'll find helpful and want to follow.
The Emmanuel Blog (of course!)
A Common Place Blog - Emmanuel's very own Ed Shaw is also the author of a blog that is a veritable goldmine of quotes.
Greece is the Word - the blog of our mission partners in Athens - the Clarks.
A Team Japan - the blog of our mission partners in Japan - the Aylings.
The Blue Fish Project - Dave Bish is the UCCF SW team leader down in Exeter, and shares a lot of good wisdom on his blog.
Girltalk - a blog discussing issues related to Biblical womanhood, written by the women of the Mahaney family in America.
Desiring God Blog - thoughts from the team at the church John Piper serves.
Justin Taylor - is a pastor and author in America, he manages to keep an eye on about a million things at once and passes on the best of them on his blog.
Tim Challies - more good stuff from the States - Tim challies is a pastor and prolific blogger.
Two closing thoughts:
Please let me or Ed know what you think of the Emmanuel blog - it's there to serve you, please tell us if it is or not.
Be discerning. Anyone with a computer can say anything they like on a blog. Don't believe everything you read, and don't wast your time reading rubbish.
