Andrew wrote
"Maybe, then, the real problem is not the distance of the pastor from the church but the distance of the church from the world."

Interesting rephrase.. but I don't think the two can be separated.

I agree that we participate in more than one community. Anyone who is on the net much and is serious about their relationships will soon be connected to a broader network of relationships.

But we all have limited time and energy. Our most significant opportunities to share the gospel are where people can see us living the gospel; and that witness was never meant to be an individual one.. it was meant to be corporate. So, while its important and significant for my family to connect personally with our physical neighbors, its even more important that we witness in our relationships to a different way of life, different priorities, and real caring for one another.

That means we need a community base. It's very difficult to build a community base of witness if we are spread through a 15 mile radius.

My point is incarnation.. a physical, historical and fleshly manifestation of the truth. Lacking this we only have a modern propositional apologetic and reasonable sounding excuses about truth and witness. The church must be an embodied presence, and faith is participation in truth embodied in a faithful community.

So, I am not arguing that we abandon our multiple or electronic communities. I am arguing for a center of embodied presence. If we fail in that one, the others wont' be worth much.