The largest barrier isn't technical, it's visionary. How can we get church leaders to see value in using technology?

Every community college in the nation is bursting with aspiring developers who'd be delighted to hack together a site for a few hundred bucks. Many hosting companies offer page creation tools which brings the total cost of a site to well under $100/year. Non-techs can set up a blog in a few minutes and easily publish their message for free. None-the-less, there are a huge number of churches who have absolutely no on-line presence at all (sans the phone book). Of the churches who already have sites, even those with well-designed interactive ones, unless you already part of the community (or are looking to be), offer absolutely no content of any interest. A statement of faith, the church staff, contact info, and upcoming events are all critical and necessary, but it says nothing to anyone who is outside the extremely limited (theological and geographical) target audience.

What every church has is people with stories. "I once was dead and now I live" still speaks to people. Your story is different than the Viet Nam Vet's, whose is different than the student who loves Hip Hop, whose is different than the single mom of four. You can speak in a way that I can't. How do we transfer the very real fellowship that takes place on Sunday morning into "001001001's" and "010010010's"?

I'm not dogging making great tools accessible to ministries. If you can give a pastor who barely knows how to check e-mail the confidence to write a carefully crafted blog, go for it. When you can get a church with a decent site to tag their content and think about SEO, that's a good thing.

But that really seems like offering more of the same. What's the solution? Is it posting member's life stories, or creating a blog roll, hosting church forums, or even full-blown social networking the key? Is it giving artists a stage or sending people out to respectfully interact with folks who frequent faithless communities the key? I don't know.

As I see it, the primary barrier is lack of compelling content. If you are outside of the brick and motor community, nearly every church website has nothing of interest to offer you. We, as an entire culture, are preaching to the choir.

-NP

I just discovered Geeks and God a month ago. I am a missionary with very limited resources, but have found some great ideas here that have inspired others. I agree that you don't want to just reproduce what others are already doing. Sure, advertising free is an idea, but not that needed. I think once a church gets an online identity (not a presence, but a personality), it will only go forward with that. Many churches will want to invest to make it better.

What would most help, I think, are inspiring ideas with tutorials for those just getting started. G&G really could have a beginner and an advanced section in the future.

The beginner section could explain, for example, what blogs, RSS feeds, site tags, and podcasts are, and how they can transform a ministry. Have a tutorial or step-by-step on how to get going posting a first blog, setting up a first website, etc.

The advanced section could deal with podcast quality issues, CMS stuff, Web 2.0, etc.

I think g&g could help people learn how to help others in their church understand all this too.

I agree with you on this. What is the vision? This is really one of the struggles. Our goal is to help the church do it's mission. How can we translate that into technology in something that isn't just repeating what's already being done?

This is why we haven't chosen something to do yet. While we bounce around a lot of good ideas something always seems to be missing.

Matt Farina
Geeks and God Co-Host
www.innovatingtomorrow.net
www.mattfarina.com

I think this is good insight....(if I hear you right) that the solution isn't a service that makes it easier for them...it's something that convinces then why they should do it at all.

The problem is...that's exactly what we're doing with the podcast. So, the question is, how does that idea expand?

I think if we're convincing someone to use the web for ministry, we can't use something 'web-based' to convince them...ie: it has to be in 'the real world'.

So, that's what the conference is for. In reality, we shouldn't even be able to do that conference but God blessed the idea richly with a venue that would host us and a local pastor with a heart to take the reins and make it GO.

The problem with "real life" stuff is that it actually costs money...which we don't really have. I was originally proposing a web service because we could do it affordably and could really make it happen even though we have a hundred other things on our plates. None of that is really possible with a big 'real life' campaign (it's expensive and time consuming).

So...I suppose my question is: what can be done which will be in addition to our busy lives that will be affordable, real life, convincing, and not consist of a full time ministry commitment?

I have no idea. You?

-Rob Feature
Geeks and God Co-Host
www.mustardseedmedia.com

The problem is...that's exactly what we're doing with the podcast. So, the question is, how does that idea expand?

Hey, I need to step back and apologize and I do so while chuckling at myself...I get on my high horse and rally about how the church is ignorant of technology and lacks compelling content, to who? Two guys who are really working hard at solving the problem.

I’ve found a tremendous digital gap between techs and the population at large. OK, most people use e-mail. But there is a huge number of educated, upwardly-mobile, socially-adept folks who don't understand even the basics. Then, making the leap from “What is it?” to “How can I use it?” is huge. Even after there is a desire with realistic expectations (and knowledge of how to implement) many wisely fear the commitment required to maintain something like a forum or a podcast.

I see a looming lack of vision on the part of most ministries to use anything like this. In my town there are about 80 Christian churches. I guess less than 5% have good sites. 45-50%; fair or poor. 50% or more have no site at all (I couldn’t find it, anyway). This is suburban Chicago, not off in the boondocks somewhere. Even with the best of the bunch, there is no attempt to offer any level of interactivity. That’s not a great way to tell the greatest story ever told! Ironicly, dynamic sites are an incredibly inexpensive and effective community-building tool.

Step one…as I see it…Offer “What is possible” and “Why it’s important”. That’s why I like your podcast so much, I learn a lot. Unfortunately, I’m not quite sure what your next step should be—Now I’m the one with lack of vision. Sorry!

Blessings!

-NP

I think the why should you do it is a very important aspect. We try to give some ideas for tech people to talk to their pastors about and hand out some why ammo.

In metro Detroit this coming summer we have a conference. If someone has a pastor that is curious who to do this stuff the conference might help them. We will talk about the why. We will talk about the practical. We will give them statistics. This might be an opportunity to help them see why it's important and we'll do some of the dirty work for you. ;-)

Matt Farina
Geeks and God Co-Host
www.innovatingtomorrow.net
www.mattfarina.com