Welcome back, Pilgrim. Here’s what’s happened in town since you’ve been away…
Welcome back to the Reformer Newsletter, where we can take a dive into various projects and activities from around Web3 and across the Christian community. You have joined this network to contribute to our collective mission of building for Christ’s Kingdom, and we will use this newsletter as a platform to enable that.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
Our world is one of constant change, and right now it feels as if we are living through an era where these changes are coming at us faster than normal- and at times too fast for us to handle responsibly. In our Reformers community, we seek to lead a vanguard to embrace some of these technological changes (and the resulting social changes) in order to build systems which glorify Christ. We reflect on the often misused terms of revolution, renaissance, and reformation, and we acknowledge their true implication is to ground the revolutionary, the artist, and the reformer in the wisdom of the past. A “revolutionary” course is one in which a body comes full-circle and returns to the point of origin, a “renaissance” is a rebirth or reawakening of the past themes, and the “reformations” of the past have been opportunities to strip away excesses to return to True faithfulness and grace. We conceptually separate our motion from our motor— we are always moving forward as we create new systems and improve existing institutions, but as we do that it is important to recenter ourselves on the beliefs, principles, and faith which has driven us this far.
Around Web3
We have already included The Network State on past newsletters, but now that I have actually finished reading it I can endorse this as a very valuable read. How might we reimagine online communities, personal networks, and even nation states in a world where cryptographically enabled ownership and governance becomes the norm? More importantly for us- how might the global Church operate in the future if we created a network freed from censorship and arbitrary impositions of the often-hostile state apparatus?
Ukraine has Shown the Value Cryptocurrency Offers to Real People: A core value proposition of decentralized finance and cryptographically enabled currencies is that it will enable people to opt out of corrupt and monolithic structures of traditional finance. It will return power to the common citizens in a way which can undo the unstoppable march of power centralization. This decade will be remembered for the multiple testing grounds for this hypothesis, the coronavirus and the Russo-Ukraine War. This article from CoinTelegraph outlines how cryptocurrencies have affected the Ukrainian people as they seek to maintain their own freedom against Russian invaders and their own financial systems which were unable to handle the strain caused by this war.
The Internet is Rotting: That one got your attention. Fascinating long read on the problem of “permanency” on web2, with many opportunities for a web3 disruption and building on the previous foundation. 📃
Next Year in Digital Jerusalem: A review comparing Balaji’s Network State to Theodore Herzl’s landmark pamphlets predicting the revived State of Israel. Looks like the Network State idea is going to continue to spark controversy and propagate ideas for some time. 🧭
A Network State in 10 Years?: We stick with the theme. Here’s Balaji on excellent crypto podcast The Chopping Block, explaining his predictions for the next phase of global connectivity. 🤝
Around the Kingdom
Semper Reformanda: What is the origin of this term? In this older article from The Gospel Coalition, we explore where this term comes from and how it hinges on three main points:
Reformation implies doctrinal stability, not doctrinal innovation
We are being reformed, we are not reforming anything
We are reformed according to the Word of God only
How might we align with these concepts as a Reformers Community?
The Call
The Reformers is a community of Christ followers who want to continuously explore new tools which can extend the reach of His Kingdom. If you want to lean in and support that mission, check out a Reformers NFT, become a patron of the community, get news and updates to start building with us, and help us run this race with endurance.