Amateur Radio is like Church

As someone who has an Amateur Radio license, and has gone to church all my life, plus having a degree in Biblical Studies, it has been easy to draw and recognize similar patterns between the two entities.

1) “The net” vs. “The ecclesia”

In Amateur Radio, “nets” meet for a given purpose, such as passing messages, receiving information, reporting on inclement weather, etc. A church meets for the purpose of worshipping God. The word in the Greek for church is “ecclesia”, which means simply “a called out assembly”.

2) Resistance to change

Both the Amateur Radio hobby and churches are very much resistant and suspicious of change. This can have both positive and negative effects.

For instance, there is less equipment to buy if emission modes don’t change. FM and repeaters in Amateur Radio have been around since 1970, CW has been with us much longer. With Christianity, a there are less Bibles to buy, especially if you are “King James Only”. Lots of money can be saved this way.

3) Confessions vs. Part 97

Also, being a “confessing Christian”, I hold to standards, such as New Hampshire Confession of Faith, and generally agree with most parts of the London Baptist Confession of 1689, and Westminster Confession of Faith. These would make a person more slow to accept new theology that comes along. In the same way, the rules and regulations of Amateur Radio FCC (Part 97) make it difficult sometimes to experiment with new technology.

4) Membership is declining

It seems as though in both Amateur Radio and the Christian church, membership is either declining or losing interest. My opinion in both cases is that we should not dilute our standards just to get new people in. There will always be a core group of people enthusiastic about both. Getting more people in by gimmicks or lowering standards will only help to sell more equipment or Bibles, but may not accomplish the purpose leaders think it will address.

Maybe you can think of some other ways in which church and Amateur Radio are similar.