Promoting Your Website

Most of the traditional congregations with which I am familiar are still more print based than Internet oriented. When you arrive for worship a greeter hands you a bulletin with details for the service and coming events. One of the features of the congregation that is often either not represented at all or buried away somewhere in volumes of text is the URL for the congregational website. The weekly church bulletin should highlight the address for the church website so that anyone who gives it even a passing look is sure to notice it. After all, the website is the one thing that will remain current even after everything else in the bulletin is outdated. Since the bulletin is handed to people who, for the most part, have already found their way to the church building the URL for the church website is actually  far more important than the church street address (which is almost always highlighted).

Similarly, when the congregation sends out e-mail it often fails to include the website address in the signature. In fact, in contrast with the business community, church e-mails often don't include any signature contact information at all.  In the same vein, the business cards of the clergy or key staff members often fail to include the congregational website. What a missed opportunity!

 

It is not surprising that congregational website statistics often remain discouraging. Of course, some people in the congregation may visit it regularly and people who are church shopping or planning to attend a special event at the church can probably locate the church website on Google.  But it seems that we could do so much more to promote the church's only available 24/7 information desk.

The Christian Year

A neighbourhood church that I pass by frequently has a prominent glass enclosed sign on a busy street. For weeks I have been frustrated by the fact that the sign was still announcing its "Christmas Eve Service" in big letters. Fortunately with Easter now coming close someone has been moved to replace the Christmas Eve service with word of a Good Friday service. A small detail perhaps but I think it says a lot.

Sounding an Alarm

Marc Andreessen, a major player in the realm of digital technology, has made some observations that ought to grab the attention of the Christian church.

In assessing the response of the traditional media to new ways of thinking about digital communication, he observed that there were two very different responses. He suggested that an entrepreneur looks at the current situation and says, 'Oh, my God, it's a monster opportunity!'" In contrast, he suggests that anyone who is simply committed to protecting an existing business says, 'Oh, my God, I am going out of business!'

Andreessen believes that both responses are justified and that the difference rests on whether or not decision makers involved are prepared to make the radical changes required to capitalize upon the new circumstances.

The Church, which often seems to behave as though it believes that this dilemma exists only for the corporate and commercial world, surely also faces a devastating fate if it is not prepared to consider making radical changes in how it communicates with the world. How can it take advantage of the "monster opportunity"?

A Cyber Christian is . . .

Proposing a new definition!

A Cyber Christian is a Christian who sees the emerging technology of our times as offering an unparalleled opportunity. (Much of North American Christianity appears to view technology as a threat or hazard to be approached with caution.)

Cyber Christians are not wiser than other Christians nor do they necessarily have more technical skills or greater wisdom than other Christians. They simply fervently believe that the technological developments of our time offer truly exciting possibilities.

A Cyber Christian does not pretend to have all the answers, or even any of the answers, but is genuinely excited by the prospect of digital technology being harnessed for communicating the Gospel both locally and internationally.

Cyber Christians also recognize the validity and value of the digital online community. They do not see it as a replacement for physical community, but they heartily endorse it as a genuine expression of community rather than as an impersonal impediment to real community.

Unfortunately, from the perspective of the present writer, denominational structures and local congregational realities offer little realistic expectation that the vision of the Cyber Christians will even get on the agenda of the institutional church. There appears to be widespread contentment with the way that the computer has replaced the typewriter, that e-mail is a convenient alternative to snail mail or voice mail, and, sometimes with some reluctance, that having a website is probably a necessity in these times. Digital options are perceived as challenges to be overcome rather than as opportunities to be explored with enthusiasm.

So, must the vision die? No, but I believe that Cyber Christians need to change their tactics. Taking a lead from Cyber visionaries in other disciplines, Cyber Christians need to switch from seeking to recruit local converts to their vision and instead, to start using the very tools that this digital age offers, to seek out the global company of others who already grasp it. And although Cyber Christians do not yet share a unified set of priorities they are at one in understanding that the longer it takes for bold Christian technological initiatives to be launched the more difficult it will be to ever get them started at all.

Cyber Christians of the world unite!

Does Jeff Jarvis Speak to the Church?

The subtitle of What Would Google Do? is: "Reverse-Engineering the Fastest-Growing Company in the History of the World." Jeff Jarvis proposes to disclose the secret of Google's corporate success and to apply the principles he identifies to other sectors of  the corporate and commercial world.

Some of his observations do not apply in a direct way to the comparatively non-commercial endeavours of the Christian Church. However, Jarvis also proposes that as a consequence of the Google experience that the typical consumer in our culture has acquired new expectations. While the church may not have customers in the usual sense of the word it does propose to interact with this same populace.  Jeff Jarvis` key observations need to be evaluated to determine whether or not they ought to shape how the Christian Church understands contemporary culture.
Who better than the author to introduce the book:

A Common Challenge

Huge amounts of energy are expended in justifying and repudiating the alternative perspectives represented within contemporary Christianity. Those endeavours, though often more vitriolic than they ought to be, are certainly not a complete waste. Definition and clarification are crucial within any movement that proposes to gather a community of commitment and support.

However, the contentions between liberals and conservatives, traditionalists and deconstructionists, seem to proceed oblivious to the reality that all of these options face a common challenge. How will Christianity, of whatever stripe,  flourish or even survive in the new reality that can be described as the age of Google?

Where it All Begins

The ideas that I hope to explore in this blog are ones that I have been pondering for some time. I was, however, nudged in the direction of presenting them in a blog format after reading Jeff Jarvis's book, What Would Google Do? His emphasis on the importance of collaboration led me to the conclusion that it was better to express my thoughts in an environment that permitted comment and response.

My objective is not to present a treatise or some well worked out response to the issues facing Christianity in the age of Google. Instead, as individual observations are shared it is hoped that they will coalesce with increasing clarity. As the project progresses perhaps others will be motivated to offer constructive comments or critical observations which will enhance the outcome.