Terry Mattingly has written a great article called, “Ministers find online world time consuming”
That’s the bottom line: A decade or two down the digital information highway, people who are serious about the Web are learning to invest their time more wisely.
That includes religious leaders, who are as buried in digital junk as everyone else. Many ministers who once were anxious to think outside the local-church box have been stunned at the time commitment this kind of “online ministry” requires.
The good news is that ambitious religious leaders can do 24/7, online, multi-media, interactive ministry at the local, national and even global levels. And the bad news? Users will expect them to build and maintain these 24/7, online, multi-media, interactive ministries at the local, national and even global levels.
This is a mixed blessing for ministers who are already struggling to keep up with the fast-paced realities of life in the flesh-and-blood, analog world. Web sites, blogs and e-mail can become curses, as well as blessings.
I recommend reading the full article. Terry does a great job addressing this tough issue when it comes to online ministry.
What do you think? Is online ministry something that churches should invest more time in or should it take a back seat to the local church community?
Posted by David on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 9:05 am.
Barna has recently done some research around churches and how much they use technology. What I found interesting about this research relates to the number churches that now have web sites.
Back in 2000, just one-third of Protestant churches (34%) had a church website. That exploded to 57% in 2005, and has inched upward since then to 62%
62% of Protestant churches have web sites. On one hand that is a great number. Churches are still adopting the web as an effective tool to utilize. What I would really be interested in knowing is how many of those churches do more than just cater to their members.
What percentage of those churches are actually doing ministry online vs. being just an information kiosk for attenders? How does your church do at giving all online visitors a reason to keep coming back to your site?
There were some other numbers from the research that actually caught me by surprise. I thought more churches would actually be tapping into these types of online ministry opportunities.
- One out of every four Protestant churches (26%) now has some presence on one or more social networking sites (such as MySpace).
- Podcasting has been adopted by one out of every six churches (16%).
- Blogging is also invading the ministry world. One-eighth of Protestant churches (13%)
This lower-than-expected numbers got me wondering. Why are some many churches not taking advantage of these latest opportunities for ministry? George Barna actually comments on this toward the end of the article.
“Many small churches seem to believe that new tools for ministry are outside of their budget range or may not be significant for a church of their size. It may be, though, that such thinking contributes to the continued small size of some of those churches.”
I think it may come down to a couple of different factors.
- Churches do not put a large priority on doing ministry via the Internet - most church sites are used more as an information kiosk for members than for ministry to online visitors
- Church Staff feel it would be expensive to do these things - In many cases it is free or would incur a considerably low cost to podcast or blog on a regular basis
Barna concludes the presentation of his research by re-affirming the importance of the Internet as a ministry tool that churches need to have a ministry strategy for.
“The Internet has become one of the pivotal communications and community-building tools of our lifetime. Churches are well-advised to have an intelligent and foresighted Internet strategy in order to facilitate meaningful ministry,” Barna commented.”
Does your church or organization have a strategy for using the Internet to do ministry? What is it? What types of methods are you using?
Posted by David on Monday, April 28th, 2008 at 2:34 pm.
Hey everyone, we are really getting excited about the 2008 IMC - Registrations are filling up (1/3 of the way as of today). Be sure to stop by the registration page to sign up before the early bird deadline.
We have been working hard to fill the last few spots on the conference schedule. Some of the names we’ve signed on recently…
SESSION SPEAKER
Cynthia Ware - The Digital Sanctuary
Eric Celerier - Founder of Topchretien.com and Internet Missionary
Benjamin Gott - TheCommon.org
DEVOTIONAL SPEAKER
Dr. Quentin Schultze - Professor at Calvin College, Media Consultant, Speaker, and co-founder of the Gospel.com Community
J.R. Whitby - CEO of Gospel Communications International
We have also added some great, new, sponsors!!
1. Collide Magazine
2. Ekklesia 360 (Monk Development)
3. Circlebuilder.com
We want to thank our new sponsors along with Agathon Group and 5q Communications for their support of the 2008 Internet Ministry Conference.
**DON’T FORGET THE EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT ENDS JUNE 1 - GET THOSE REGISTRATIONS IN NOW!!
Posted by David on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 2:56 pm.
A couple weeks ago, I was checking out some sites for my series on online ministry examples and I came across this new online community called The FshBwl (pronounced “The Fish Bowl”). I must give thanks to Matt Farina over at Innovating Technology for pointing it out to me.
According to their web site, “The fshbwl is an online community that combines content distribution with social networking to engage the online community in conversations on faith, to connect non-Christians with Christians and breakdown misconceptions that prevent dialogue, to nurture all people in the faith, and to expand the Kingdom of God in both the virtual and physical realms.”
The site is a great example of creating a place where serious discussion around Christianity can take place.
Recently, I traded a few emails with Matt on what their philosophy of online ministry is. I found that he and Pastor Joe had some good things to say about online ministry, so I listed his 6 main points below.
1) Putting good stuff out there for God to use. There are millions of searches each day with questions about spirituality and God. Let’s put some good stuff out there for those searches to find.
2) Many people who use the Internet a lot have heard that Christians are dumb, unartistic, and pig headed. Let’s put content out there that shows we are not that way while guiding Christians to not live that way.
3) Let’s do this in a community manner. So, we can grow in faith together. Much of my best learning and growing has come when I do it with others. Sharing thoughts, ideas, and lives.
4) Reaching out in the communities I develop in. Showing them through me and the stuff I back that Christians aren’t bad, God is good and more than a fantasy.
5) Take this as a first step towards doing more on the Internet to spread the word while helping people. I really think of this as only a foundation for reaching people through helping others.
6) Mobilize Christians to lead a God focused missional life where they can touch others through their relationships.
Posted by David on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 9:37 am.
Last time we looked at some examples of what Internet Discipleship looks like online. I want to do the same thing today with online evangelism.
Be sure to check out these sites that are doing online evangelism well. And if you know of any that are not listed here please let me know what they are! Thanks.
INVITING PEOPLE INTO RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS
Need Him.org - Different options for different people
Journey Of Joy.com - Focused toward women
WomenTodayMagazine.com - a more subtle evangelistic approach for women
MenTodayOnline.com - a more subtle evangelistic approach for men
PowerToChange.com - a personal story based evangelistic approach
LEADING NEW JESUS FOLLOWERS TO THE WORLD OF DISCIPLESHIP
Growing In Christ.com
New Christian Life Ministries
INFORMATION FOR UNDERSTANDING ONLINE EVANGELISM
Internet Evangelism Coalition
Internet Evangelism Day
StrategicDigitalOutreach.com
Posted by David on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 9:04 am.
Hey, be sure to visit the latest post by David Bourgeois, one of our 2008 keynote speakers. He is a guest blogger again over at Church Marketing Sucks.com, which Brad Abare started and contributes to (one of our 2008 session speakers).
David shares some of his latest research on the best practices for Internet Ministry.
Good examples of online ministry appear in many different forms. Check out these ministry sites for some good examples of ministries doing discipleship online.As always if you have additions to the list feel free to add them in the comments section.
Devotional Sites
Literature Ministries International
Words Of Hope
Article Site
Legacy Youth Ministry Resource
Youth Ministry Exchange
Wiki Site
Urban Ministry.org
Audio Resources/Podcasts
Sermon Index
CatalystSpace Podcast
Flickr Photo Group
Church Marketing Lab (Center for Church Communication)
Posted by David on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 9:00 am.
As we have been exploring what it means to do online ministry, I have also been on the look out for ministries that are doing it well. Listed below are some of the ministries I have discovered. I also look forward to your comments on ministries that you have found that are doing online ministry well.
Devotionals:
Our Daily Bread
Back To The Bible
Delve Into Jesus
Articles:
Into Thy Word
Delve Into Jesus
Blogs:
Mark Batterson (Pastor/Leadership blog)
Swerve (Leadership/Technology blog)
Online Communities:
LifeChurch Internet Campus
What are some of the effective online ministries you have found?
Posted by David on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 9:40 am.
Toward the end of last week, I spent some time dwelling on all that Internet ministry involves. Obviously, as we mentioned in previous posts, it involves discipleship and evangelism. But I think there are two other aspect that also important for an Internet ministry to be successful.
1. How ministry is transmitted to the users (Made Available)
2. How that ministry is “marketed” online (Visibility)
While having a good definition of Internet ministry is important, you also need to know how to best transmit the message you have. The planning, structure, design, and content of your Internet ministry is key to it’s success. From your mission and vision to your design and execution, how you engage people online speaks volumes about the importance of your message.
After spending time planning and building your Internet ministry, it becomes very important to make it known online. Many times the type of Internet ministry you’re planning will determine the best ways to promote it. For example, if your Internet ministry involves a web site, then search engine optimization and marketing would be key to your marketing strategy.
What ways do you communicate your message online? Articles, blogs, Twitter, etc?
Do you do anything unique to publicize your Internet ministry?
Posted by David on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 10:00 am.
An important part to any good web site is the design. This holds true for your online ministry as well. Does your design make it easy to get to your content?
Your design is also your first impression to your web visitors. Does it communicate what your church or organization is all about?
I recently saw this list of the 50 Best Church web site designs posted by Vandelay Website Design. These are great looking sites but good looks will only take you so far. Does your web site have the kind of content that supports your online ministry objectives?
Posted by David on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 8:00 am.
Yesterday, I took some time to review the comments made over the past weeks as we’ve embarked on this journey to understand online ministry. I wanted to circle back to a couple of those and continue the discussion.
Back on March 5th, Dave Bourgeois commented on the definition of Online Ministry that I threw out there by saying:
Online ministry could include ministry that does not touch an Internet user at all but simply facilitates ministry to them (say a homeless ministry or missions). Maybe something more like “Utilizing the power of Internet technologies to…”. What do you think?
I followed up his comment by explaining my thoughts this way:
I guess it would come down to how you limit or don’t limit your idea of online ministry. The term itself suggests that the ministry is taking place online. Thus it would effect a user of the Internet directly or else it would be “ministry” not “Online ministry.”
I understand that online ministry can facilitate offline ministry. But if it is not a direct effect of the online ministry then wouldn’t it fall into the “offline ministry” category?
What are your thoughts on these questions about online vs. offline ministry? How do they relate in your opinion? Can effective ministry be done online without a supplemental offline ministry?
Posted by David on Thursday, March 20th, 2008 at 8:38 am.
