First Estate, Meet the Fifth Estate: A New Reformation
In the Church, we are still shaking off the dust of the Middle Ages. Back then, as always, there was a crying need to organize society, partly due to unparalleled spread and power of Christianity.
- Who would have the power?
- Who would control the wealth?
- Who would protect the wealth and power?
- Who would pay for everything?
There was tension between church leaders and the people they relied upon to protect their impressive assets. This ragtag group of warriors would be most effective and reliable if they were given some official status and a smidgen of power.
Somebody came up with the idea of “estates.”
The First Estate included the clergy. They controlled much of the wealth, demanding contributions of the faithful. They paid NO taxes.
The Second Estate included the warriors that were to become the nobility. They were willing to risk their lives to protect the Church, and so, they were allowed some very nice tracts of land and the power to get the general population to work for them. They paid NO taxes.
The Third Estate was everyone else—about 97% of the population. THEY paid taxes.
As for upward mobility—it was next to impossible to enter the Second Estate by any means other than birth or marriage. Is it any wonder that there was no shortage of clergy in the Middle Ages?
Then came the printing press. The Fourth Estate was born. It was soon recognized that anyone who owned a printing press held power that had to be respected (and controlled, if possible). The press became the Fourth Estate.
Along came America and the power of the press was given constitutional protection.
Today we stand at the threshold of new possibilities and the birth of the Fifth Estate. The term seems to have started in Canada, referring to the media. It is evolving to include the power that lies in the hands of millions of unfettered individuals (the same 97% who have been supporting the power structure of both Estates One and Two for a thousand years).
Enter the power of the blog—The Fifth Estate.
This is a new form of power— a bit like the press but rawer and more independent, uncontrolled by any structure and empowered as much by the low cost as the technology..
- Blogs are available to all.
- Blogs do not require wealth and backing.
- Blogs can create their own following.
- Blogs are immediate.
- Blogs have no cumbersome internal power structures.
- Blogs are not restricted by the costs of print, marketing and circulation.
- Blogs are not beholding to advertising for revenue.
- Blogs are controlled by everyone’s ability to respond if they disagree.
- Blogs are protected by the same Bill of Rights that protects religion and the press.
Anyone can become a thought leader in this new world. You won’t need a title or fancy degree.
The Fifth Estate will outpower every other Estate.
We have already seen the Fifth Estate affect government and international relations—swaying elections, inciting rebellion, changing the world.
We are beginning to see the Fifth Estate change education with free and easy access to course material once available only to the privileged.
Business has changed. Publishing has changed.
Will the Fifth Estate change the First Estate—the Church?
It will…if we start using the power at our fingertips.
The Church’s resistance to change—which begins at the top—will hamper it. Leaders will try to protect the status quo, which is their expertise. They will continue to rely on outdated communication techniques—20-minute sermons in cavernous, empty sanctuaries, newsletters filled with fluff, feel good web sites that invite little interaction or thought leadership.
One day soon, the power of the Fifth Estate will force open the doors and windows that have been sealed for centuries. The change is not going to be dictated by the seminaries or bishops or even the clergy. It is going to come from the bottom up and it is going to be truly transforming.
Are we ready?