If churches and pastors want to connect with a wider audience, build new relationships and influence hearts and minds we need to communicate more effectively in today's digital world. Having a traditional website and sending out a monthly email newsletter is better than nothing but it does not make churches effective communicators?
Hopefully churches and pastors want to be where the action is, on the front lines where human hearts & minds are located. Think of it as the information war zone where God's critical business is conducted. If you are not in the war zone you may miss out on key battles.
Are churches and pastors prepaired? Are we armed with knowledge tools, information skills, intuition and desire? Are we on a mission? Do we know where the war zone is, what to do when we get there, and how we can fight to win? If you operate in the information war zone then your badge says digital pastor. If it doesn't then it either needs to be updated or you may not be in the right location. Some pastors & churches are still in Tazmania looking for action because they either boarded the wrong flight or missed their plane all together. These are the people that will have to be dropped into the war zone as paratroopers. Paratroopers are known to eat a few bugs and fly through some dust storms but they do make it. All they have to do is jump. Don't worry. If you have a blog then your badge says digital pastor. You are operating in the war zone. Reviews, promotions & any medals deserved will be discussed later.
The war zone in today's online world is built on blogs, social networks and web 2.0 ajax applications like politicians don't have websites anymore they have blogs. Websites don't buzz or have blogrolls, blogs do. Bloggers have user ID from They use an administrative interface to communicate 24/7. If you do not have one of these user ID's you might still be in Tazmania or possibly worse… the South Polar Arctic Zone.
Thinking of rebuilding your church website? Think again. Take another look at social networking. Consider church blogging. Your church website is kind of like a page in the phone book. It is not like making the phone call and actually talking to someone on the other end. That's blogging! The interactivity that we may be looking for doesn't come from an archaic dinosaur that does not communicate very well and eats way to much. Design a church blog where people can interact, communicate, share, post video and photos, play podcasts and post comments. (moderation filter ON) Have one author or multiple authors. Publish from Santa Monica to Zurich. Blogging is the new Church Commons.
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