Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Will the Church Claim its Moment in History?

Fred Peatross at abductive columns has this post. [emphaasis mine]
Churches don't understand the digital era if they think they can throw up a Web site, add a few cheesy congregational pictures and then comfortably sit back thinking they've done their web thing. Actually they've routed around it, wasting time and resources. Paying someone to throw up a web site with a church header and a calendar with a picnic date and a few outdated church functions is little more than advertisement born of the print era. Flying beneath the radar screen of ninety-percent of the churches in America is a gathering digital conversations taking place in news groups, emails, instant messaging, and blogs. While leaders browse church web sites the digital church grows. It's everywhere.

Here's a suggestion. Stop using the web as an information library and begin thinking of it as a community where conversations gather.

Churches that neglect a strategy for the future will not realize the importance of retooling to root itself in the gathering digital conversation. Unfortunately many churches will find themselves standing in the wake of a rapidly emerging church.
Our website is not anywhere near this.
We are hoping to use it in connection with our blog - which was more of a holding tank than sparking discusssion - to facilitate real discussion / dialogue.
It's interesting - it's often those who are on the outside or edge of "organized religion" (there's a non-bliblical concept if I ever heard one) who are ready, willing, able and desiring to genuinely dialogue about issues / life. It's those on the "inside" who often prefer to pontificate - can a protestant do that!?

The church grabbed the lead technologically, by being an earlier adapter of print.
There were some who took the lead with radio & then with TV - but then instead of using the medium / media creatively, the church used it to broadcast "church services" thereby propogating the untruth that church = sunday am service (the church may gather sunday am - among other times - to worship, but that is not the limit of the church)
Now [now - about 20+years late] the church just might be able to use technology wisely, creatively, powerfully for the glory of God - I sure pray we will.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My "church" has a web site.

It sucks.

I offered to help the Director of New Media (whatever kind of stupid title that is) to help {do it all} get the site useful, if not better.

He never got back to me.

I stopped going to that church.

It was all about the leadership and how great they are and good they sound, it had nothing to do with the people who were coming through the doors week after week.