In the olden days when a vicar left a church they would move away and in theory have very limited contact with their ex-parishioners. I think that in the Methodist church when a minister moves on they are instructed to have no contact for a year. I can see why both of these make sense - they allowing the new minister to settle in without having the previous minister looking over their shoulder all the time. This was the case when communities were geographically defined, however within a networked and internet savvy community how can one have no contact?
I could commit internet suicide - killing my profile on Facebook, Ning, Twitter and the blog...but by doing this i remove myself from all my other networks. I could de-friend people on facebook etc. but this feels slightly aggressive. So the reality is that my internet presence will remain the same. Meaning that I will read others peoples fb status', tweets etc. and through that know a little bit about what is going on in Sanctus1. I'm sure some of it will please me other will make me roll my eyes but as I've said before 'It's God's church not mine.'
I've been reflecting on leaving withing a networked culture and I'm starting to think that the ongoing virtual connections could be positve. One area that I think is important within leadership is authenticity - I'm ofter aware of this when I'm blogging, what I write here could be used against me at any point - I cannot move from one place to another, adopt a different persona and snuggly fit into that context. I am who I am. Networks and the virtual paper trail that we leave mean that who I am now, is part of who I will be in the future. This means that when I leave Sanctus people will be able to see that who I was in Sanctus was not a persona adopted for that context but the authentic me.
