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Camcon II was held in Atlanta, Georgia from April 2-4, 1987.It was hard for this event to live up to the excitement of Camcon I. After all, we had just met each other face-to-face at Camcon I and that fact alone made for a very heady experience.
It was very good to meet old and new friends and there were interesting presentations and workshops to attend, but it was hard to rid ourselves of the feeling that the excitement level was missing.
The major presentations at Camcon I had a sense of newness and vitality which was hard to duplicate or sustain this year.
Camcon II's theme: Church Applications: Moving Ahead" already suggested that we would be dealing with applying the computer knowledge already available to the use of the Church. And arguably there was much more available "out there" than any of our Churches had been able to assimilate in the past years.
But some events at Camcon II were extremely important in their own right.
Concerns for the continuity and credibility of ecumenical networking, added to the concern to protect the name "ECUNET" moved us to ask Jack Sharp to engage a lawyer for the purpose of incorporating a non-profit corporation. Because Jack lives in Maryland the incorporation took place there.
The slate of officers elected at the organizational meeting "Ecunet, Inc" came from all over North America and reveals a concern for denominational representation:
President: David Lochhead, United Church of Canada, Maple Ridge, B. C.
First Vice-President: Curtis Ackley, United Church of Christ, Linfield, Pennsylvania
Second Vice-President: Jim Collie, Presbyterian Church (USA), Bedford, Texas
Secretary: Jack Sharp, United Presbyterian Church (USA), Baltimore, Maryland
Treasurer: Gordon Laird, United Church of Canada, Vancouver, B. C.
Assistant Treasurer: Donel McClellan, United Church of Christ, Bellingham, Washington.
There is a lot of interest from people from a dozen or more Churches in the new reality of Ecunet which will undoubtedly be reflected in Ecunet, Inc. Our first Annual meeting in the Spring of 1988 will begin to reflect this interest.
We are a corporation, with Head Office in Baltimore, Maryland, bank account in Bellingham, Washington, and an Executive from various parts of North America who meet mostly electronically on the NWI network.
Ecunet, Inc, shows great promise but in its first year is still in the process of being organized and gaining its tax- free status. Real accomplishment in the name of Ecunet, Inc. must await further developments.
Nonetheless the incorporation of Ecunet, Inc. is an important milestone in the continuing saga of ecumenical electronic communicating in North America.
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Electronic communication using computers is taking on increased importance across the United Church of Canada. 1986 and 1988 - the "Globe and Mail" and General Council
All of our Conference Offices are now linked with the Head Office and with each other by means of the Envoy 100 network. Messages flow each day from Conference Offices to and from particular Divisions within 85 St. Clair, Toronto. Some of the National Divisions are monitoring the discussions on NWI as well.
It may be that electronic networking will prove to be a greater boon to a Church like ours, in a vast country like Canada, than to other denominations in North America.
Canada has the second largest land area of any country in the world. So much of what we need to do in Canada, and the ways we must do it, are affected by our very geography and climate.
It is no coincidence that three events which galvanized the attention of all Canadians and the whole world had to do with overcoming the rigours of geography and climate - the "runs" of Terry Fox, Steve Fonyo and Rick Hansen.
From the beginning of recorded history Canadians have used all available modes of transportation and communication as they were discovered and became available - canoes, ships, railways, telegraph, motor cars, telephone, radio, aircraft and television. We had to use the best technology in the enduring quest to span distances.
The United Church of Canada has always described itself as being a "national" Church. We maintain a presence in every Province in Canada. We also act as a prophetic presence in Canada, reflecting upon our society.
Our Church has taken its ministry to people in isolated areas by all available means of transportation and communication, as they became available - canoes, mission boats, on the railway, by car, telephone, radio broadcasts, mission aircraft and Television.
Some of the basic characteristics of the United Church of Canada are revealed in how we communicate within the Church and with the society around us.
When we attempt to deal with issues in a way which departs from the cultural norms of our society we expect that it will be reported, sometimes in a sensational manner, in Canadian newspapers.
Because the Church cannot communicate quickly and accurately with all of our people across this country their first source of news is their local newspaper, which receives news items from national news services.
It is a fact that most newspapers of any size understand how essential it is to be in minute-by-minute contact with national news services. So far, the Church has not seen an urgent need to maintain minute-by-minute connection with its own people.
The result is often a lot of anger of United Church people, who read in their local press what "their Church" has decided. The transmission of the information through the press is subject to inaccurate reporting through lack of knowledge of the topic, or through the desire for interesting, and sometimes sensational, stories.
A prime illustration happened at the General Council meeting in Sudbury in August, 1986. General Council had approved a resolution favouring the use of inclusive language and encouraging congregations in this direction. The resolution asked the United Church to:
"create a freer and more broadly inclusive community by the use of a variety of human and other metaphors, images and pronouns for God in church documents, worship and liturgy."A reporter for the Toronto Globe and Mail, reported:
"...The church will no longer use the word "man" but instead use the inclusive word "people". Similarly, Father, King, He and Master will no longer be used. The church will instead say God, Creator or Father-Mother."The Globe and Mail report was picked up by Canadian Press and was featured in scores of newspapers across Canada.United Church people in the Vancouver area read the headline in the Vancouver Sun: "King of Kings soon to be Queen of Queens".
However an experiment was underway in Sudbury, the results of which may well affect the future of communication dramatically. Paul Mullen and Bill Dearborn of the Small Computers in the Church Committee were at Sudbury reporting daily over computer networks for conference offices and others joined by computer.
There were only a dozen or so who were able to take advantage of this first-hand "minute-by-minute" communication. Anyone connected to UNISON during those weeks, had access to this information. It was also being sent on a daily basis over Envoy 100.
What might happen in the future was illustrated by our own congregational situation On Sunday, August 24th, just 6 days after the erroneous report was released I was able to read from the pulpit the words of the actual General Council resolution (which I had received over my computer) and the text of the Globe and Mail reporting, so that people could make up their own minds. It was essential to counteract this report that Sunday. Any later the damage would have been hard to undo.
This experiment in communication was not widely known at the time but has been studied and evaluated since that time.
Those on the National Committees who are preparing for General Council in Victoria (August 17th to 25th, 1988) have already requested that there be electronic communication built into this General Council and that this fact be made known widely across the Church.
An invitation was sent through "Infopac" to every Congregation in the United Church of Canada inviting those interested to receive $100 of free introductory time on NWI.
The pioneer local Bulletin Board is David Lochhead's "AGORA" which serves the lower mainland of B. C. Plans are underway to set up local bulletin boards, which will carry all the General Council news, in Winnipeg, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Regina. Applications have been received from Church people to set up local bulletin boards in various parts of Ontario, Nova Scotia and Labrador. A local bulletin board is now running in Terrace, B. C.
The network of bulletin boards requires a tremendous organizational commitment to gear up for General Council '88. The potential is building for a break-through in electronic communication.
This story must, of necessity, break off at this point. It is February, 1988. Plans are continuing for computer communication from General Council - both "Official", through Information Service of the Division of Communication, and through the two-way computer communications established by the Small Computers in the Church Committee over NWI and dozens of local Bulletin Boards.
Each day the SCC is receiving applications for Introductory accounts on NWI, and questions about how to establish and maintain a local bulletin Board. Since the Infopac offer 35 new applications have been received for NWI accounts. In addition we have been asked for all manner of information, including our best advice regarding the installation of computers in Churches and the purchase of Church software.
The United Church of Canada, through its General Council and its Divisions has launched a tremendous effort to keep its people informed of the issues which will be debated, before, during and after the General Council in Victoria, in August, 1988.
The attention is now focussed completely upon General Council, 1988
What the future holds for electronic communication in the United Church of Canada in 1989 and beyond will depend to a large extent on evaluations of the effectiveness of communication between the Church and General Council.
by Gordon Laird, February, 1988© - copyrighted by the Small Computers in the Church Committee, February, 1988
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