Almost certainly, online technology will never be a replacement for corporate church gatherings.  Although our assemblies can take several forms (we know the building itself isn't the church), it's clearly the being together 'of one accord' that has spiritual merit.  Online communications can be an extension of the relationships we have and can, in some cases, extend our church experience into cyberspace. 

Obviously you know about blogs or you wouldn't find yourself here.  But you may be intimidated to start your own or you may have begun blogging for free experimentally and want to switch up to a paid service.  Hopefully this list of links will facilitate the continuing exploration of your web publishing options:

• Blogger

• BlogHarbor

• Blogware

• Blojsom

• Blosxom

• Conversant

• Drupal

• GeekLog

• IlohaBlog

• LiveJournal

• Manila

• MovableType

• Nucleus

• pMachine

• pyblosxom

• Radio Userland

• Serendipity

• SquareSpace

• TypePad

• WordPress

Each service provides both similar basics and more sophisticated individual options.  Although I would never recommend one over the other (WordPress) because they are all so different (WordPress) I have to say I was really pleased when I went from one publishing platform to my current service (WordPress).

Addendum - TypePad Vox is out and a multi-blog version of WP.  Also please see Stephen Garner's comment (8) for additionally helpful links.

The Global Technology Office of Campus Crusade for Christ categorizes technology operating in three unique ways related to ministry.  All three are important for mission accomplishment and each perspective is understood best when seen in light of the other two.

Direct ministry technologies allow direct connection to people for winning, building and sending.

Catalytic ministry technologies enable and equip laborers to be more effective in winning, building and sending.

Operational ministry technologies permit the organization to function smoothly.

Technology doesn’t need to function only in one category.  Take email, for example.  We use email to counsel interested seekers (direct).  We also send email to give information for important conferences or share ministry ideas (catalytic).  And in email, staff members quickly get their payroll and reimbursement notices (operational).

Thus, different facets of ministry can use the same technology but in completely different ways. Direct, Catalytic, Operational.  Each category of technology is vitally important to fulfilling your total mission.

When we’re connected we’re more effective in ministry.

View their link here. 

Internet Evangelism Day 

Mark you calendar now because …

… over 1 billion people use the Web
  … the Internet is changing the world
… God is using the Web to transform lives
        …“We’d love to use the Web for outreach; teach us”

Internet Evangelism Day is here to tell you about …

• what God is doing on the Web
• outreach strategies that work online
• how you, your church or Christian group can use the Web for outreach – and how to make effective church websites reach into the community
• planning an Internet Evangelism focus day for your church, Bible college or Christian group

The date for your calendar:    April 29, 2007

In other words, this site works at two levels. It demonstrates that the coming years are the ‘day’ of digital outreach. And it provides free downloads to enable you to create your own web evangelism awareness slot for your church or Christian group, on April 29, 2007, or any day you choose.

How we can help you: learn more.

Part III 

This Web 2.0 series was designed to take some of the mystery out of the concept of the new Web.  Although there is an abundance of information all over the Internet about the newest generation of tech, there are far fewer resources that focus specifically on the church and it's current relationship with Web 2.0.  New technologies, by their very nature can be intimidating.  And pastors, often busy shepherding their congregations, have little time to pursue the time-consuming work of learning about the next, new, online advancement or tool.

Since church denominations, churches and their leaders are often noted for being particularly out of step with their surrounding culture, it can take some moxy to embrace some of the newer technologies.  Not every church needs a MySpace nor will every pastor put up a blog.  However, resisting online applications won't help the church seize the day as the next generation of children becomes the first to be raised in an entirely technological society.  We can be in the world and not of it.  In fact, we should.

Because the newest wave of truly interactive media is still in it's infancy, there are scare resources available to encourage the church in it's education of Web 2.0 options.   It seems this concluding post wouldn't be complete without providing a reference to the well-read Church Marketing Sucks site (if you trip over their name, they've succeeded).  Their Web 2.0 series, published over the course of this last year, is specifically tailored with church usage in mind. If the buzzwords of the new media technologies overwhelm you, this site is one I'd like to submit as a balanced, informative, readable, lay-oriented option for both church leaders and congregations who want to explore the evolving Web.  

There is also an expected backlash (rejection of technology) demonstrated as the pendulum swings significantly during this time of rapid technological change.  Criticisms of online means of communication and their inherent risks are abundant.  In terms of prompting thought and critical thinking for Christians, I can recommend the publications by Quentin Schultze.  Both scholarly and yet readable, his wise, usually challenging evaluations about technology always make me think.

Part II - Examples of Web 2.0

Although there is little consensus about where Web 1.0 ends and 2.0 begins, there are three attributes of Web 2.0 technologies that stand out: collectivity, interactivity and user-driven content.  These three characteristics tend to accompany (whether individually or in combination) the applications that are known as the participatory Web.  What the longevity path looks like for these applications is yet to be determined.  What we do know is that these traits in particular, will have significance for what evolves next.

Attempting to describe Web 2.0 without providing specific examples is like describing a foreign country without actually allowing you to visit it.  Although there are now dozens of highly successful pioneer Web applications, here are a handful of standout market leaders branding their version of the killer app:

• Wikipedia is a Web-based free content encyclopedia that is editable by anyone.  (Does Encarta know you can do that?  Encarta who?)

• YouTube is a popular free video sharing web site which lets users upload, view, and share video clips. (As of last week's sale, 1.65 billion dollars worth of 'you broadcast yourself' video clips.)

• Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs.  (Quite possibly how you found this blog.  Advertised as who's saying what, right now.)

• Digg is a user-driven and ranked news website with an emphasis on technology and science articles.  It combines social bookmarking, blogging, and syndication with a form of non-hierarchical, democratic editorial control.  (You pick what's news to you.)

• Flickr is a photo sharing website and web services suite, and an online community platform.  (What you almost certainly access when you do photos.)

• MySpace is a social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos.  (52% of users are over 35 now)

• BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer (P2P) file distribution protocol, and is the name of a free software implementation of that protocol.  It's designed to distribute large amounts of data widely without incurring the corresponding consumption in costly server and bandwidth resources. (You to others)

• Skype is a proprietary peer-to-peer Internet telephony (VoIP) network.  It is notable for its broad range of features, including free voice and video conferencing, and its ability to use peer to peer (decentralized) technology to overcome common firewall and NAT problems. (You talk for free anywhere in the world.)

Have you picked up on the theme here?  You………   you share, you speak, you decide.  User driven.

Additionally, there are other aspects of Web 2.0 technology becoming commonplace on the Web.  The following is a random list of some of the new applications, each followed by a short description accentuated with supporting links (wikipedia).

podcast - A podcast is a multimedia file distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers.

blog - A blog is a website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.  Blogs often provide commentary on a particular subject (like this one) or serve as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic.

media streaming - Streaming media is media that is consumed (heard or viewed) (mostly in the form of clips) while it is being delivered. Streaming is more a property of the delivery system than the media itself.

RSS (syndication feed) - RSS (often means Really Simple Syndication) is a family of web feed formats, a simple XML-based system that allows users to subscribe to their favorite websites.

wiki - A wiki is a type of website that allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove and otherwise edit and change some available content.  This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative authoring.

These emerging Web technologies are growing daily in distribution and use.  The speed at which they are diffusing throughout the Internet population is much faster than typical, traditional innovations.  The impact of a participatory Web will certainly reconstruct how most social institutions operate.

Currently, the Church is beginning to utilize newer online technologies in several noticeable ways.  For example, some churches offer the current week's teachings online via either print, podcast or media stream.  Additionally, archived material is available these same ways.  Some churches are using social networking either to build community or for outreach and have their own MySpace sites, usually for their youth or college groups.

Church websites are becoming more interactive offering users richer options for exploration, providing more links and greater intuitive site design.  Photo and flash technology is increasing, as is actual interactivity.  What began a few years ago with guestbooking in some cases has moved to more advanced levels of interaction including blogging.  Whether it's a church blog that congregants can comment on or a pastor's blog used to stimulate thought and dialog in preparation for a teaching series, leaving a message has given way to having a conversation.

Obviously, there is a raging debate about the safety, validity and effectiveness of Christians using any online means of communication to promote our faith.  So, the final post in this series will conclude with a balanced look at the reminders that technological innovations can never replace personal, one-on-one relationships. The Internet is a communication vehicle, thus a tool in the hands of its users.  By it's very nature can be used for good or evil.

Part I:  A brief history of Web 2.0

When people do a Google search of emerging + church I know they won't expect to land at this particular post.  And yet, attaching the word emerging to Web technology is an accurate way of capturing the partially opaque, partially transparent view we have of the new media applications currently coming into focus.  They are, on the one hand, somewhat cellular and embryonic and on the other hand, developed enough to be morphing into a second generation of application and use. 

The ultimate significance of these new media technologies is unclear at this time.  Thus, their impact on the church specifically, and other social institutions in general is not yet defined.  What we do know is we are in the midst of a revolution.  Across not only the Internet, but now within most social institutions, in business and industry, across countries and cultures, there is an 'emerging' technologically- driven society that will eventually span all strata of our world.  The digital age is producing a global nation.  And the global nation is being given a voice.

Wikipedia notes the term Web 2.0 arose in 2004 when O'Reilly Media, in collaboration with MediaLive International, used the phrase as a title for a series of conferences.  Following the conferences, the term stuck and has become a kind of a conceptual umbrella under which the second/next generation of Internet applications are often grouped. The Web 2.0 concept was intended to function as a core "set of principles and practices" that applied to common threads and tendencies observed across many different technologies.

Although Web 2.0 has become an over-arching buzzword that people use to describe a wide range of online activities and applications, there are certain defining characteristics that help identify what constitutes Web 2.0.  These defining traits include (but are not limited to) these three central characteristics:

• the utilization of collective intelligence
• the production of network-enabled interactive services
• the control of data placed in users' hands 

To summarize: collective, interactive and user-driven. 

In contrast, the early Web (now a.k.a. Web 1.0) primarily involved static websites, the use of search engines, and surfing from one website to the next.  Web 2.0 moves the usage of the Web towards a more dynamic, interactive, non-static model.  The next generation Web will be known as the "participatory Web" with some of the clearest examples being blogs, wikis and social networking sites.

Currently, there is a measurable explosion in the software applications that do not behave like the non-interactive Web we have known over the last 10 years.  Web 2.0 replaces the authoritative nature of traditional institutions with the surging wisdom of crowds.  This does not change the message nor the direction of the message of the Christian church.  The wisdom that comes from heaven is described in the Bible as having a completely different nature than earthly wisdom; it originates from a different source and displays a unique set of attributes (see for example James 3:13 - 17).  God's wisdom comes from above.  No amount of human wisdom can create the Spirit nature of Heaven's wisdom. 

Thus, Web 2.0 technology does not change the message of the church nor where the message originates.  It will, however, change how, when and to whom it is delivered.  The church is now offered the chance to participate in an interactive worldwide conversation.  It is a conversation that Web 2.0 applications will foster and faciliate.

Next: Part II: Examples of Web 2.0

Next: Part III: Conclusion 

3rd Annual Web 2.0 Conference

Although it's invitation-only and sold out, I'm paying close attention to the predications that will be made as a result of this conference.  San Francisco will play host to this third annual gathering in about three weeks. 

According to the website, the event will focus on emerging business and technology developments that utilize the Web as a platform and will explore and define how the Web will drive business in the future.  Now that the Web has become a robust landscape with countless innovations pushing its ongoing development; widespread disruptions in traditional business models are well underway.  It has been noted, however, that within the chaos of disruption lie the seeds of opportunity.

Besides a ton of other speakers at the Palace Hotel, just think about hearing what these three predict:

• John Battelle - author of "The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture"
• Marc Benioff - Sillicon Valley Visionary & preeminent thinker in information technology
• Jeffrey P. Bezos - Princeton University graduate who founded Amazon.com

In my view, churches, both leadership and laity, have the opportunity to be keenly aware of (and experiment with) Web 2.0 applications.  These are the software ideas that are morphing out of "traditional" Internet use and have incredible implications for the future of not only the church but all social institutions.  Maybe this will prompt our thinking…..If you happen to be part of a church congregation with one local building/meeting place/gathering location…..consider yourselves instantly part of a multi-located congregation.  More than one that is, if you consider the Internet a free, available and ready made spot for birthing a second piece of "church property".

Although Web 2.0 ideas might see a bit intimidating for non-techies (like me) why not give ourselves to investigating and exploring these embryonic technologies in their infancy?  Ever heard the football (soccer) phrase 'first to the ball gets it'?   Christians have an unparalleled opportunities with Web 2.0 technologies for everything from new forms of media-driven worship to online evangelism. 

What are the long-term ramifications of Web 2.0 applications?  Well, frankly, who knows?  But just because nobody is sure yet, doesn't mean we shouldn't be there.  And, what we can already say for certain is that the church, along with all other social institutions, is about to change.

You gotta love it!  A crew of 4 geek girls won the prize as best hack at the Yahoo sponsored Hack Day last weekend.  Everyone seems to take note of the fact that the team was female.  I'm taking note of what they hacked, a device called Blogging in Motion.

According to Michael Arrington posted at TechCrunch (see my techroll), Yahoo opened its corporate headquarters to hordes of hackers, press and others last Friday and Saturday for its open Hack Day.  After 24 straight hours of hacking, 54 projects were demonstrated to the crowd of about 400 people. 

Over 3,000 pictures from the event, tagged “HackDay06″ are on Flickr here.

The winning project, called Blogging In Motion, combined a camera, a handbag, a pedometer and the Flickr API to create a device that takes a picture after every few steps and then automatically blogs those pictures.

In case you're a church leader and in case you're wondering if blogging is here to stay and in case you are asking yourself questions like: can my church use technology to serve people; should I start thinking about raising my tech bar; should I put up a pastor's blog?   …..Just keep in mind that our congregations may be blogging our messages from their treos, cell phones, laptops and now purses while we're trying to figure it all out!

Blogging is not without its share of criticism, however it continues to rise both in popularity and in public awareness.  As we continue to explore and evaluate the use, role and impact of new media technologies particularly as they apply to the operation of the Church, I thought I might offer a few constructive reasons to both read and write blogs.   

Some of the benefits of blogging are particularly obvious.  Others, I discovered quite by accident.  They include…

• To share your faith

• To express yourself

•  To make new friends

• To connect with others either like or unlike you

• To stimulate a diminishing vocabulary

• To increase your typing speed (until we VoIP)

• To explore a relatively new online technology

• To write "in the sandbox"

• To be published (do it yourself - quick, easy & free)

• To develop your voice

• To share information

• To build an informational resource for others 

• To serve a group

• To be found by old friends

• To use time constructively

• To create an online work of art

• To find support in an area of need

• To battle fear (doing something new, taking risks, etc.)

• To entertain others or be entertained 

• To share content (photos, journals, videos, music, etc.) 

• To research something specific

• To develop an expertise in a particular area

• To build an online community 

• To amplify a vocational calling - journalist, researcher, writer, poet, etc.

• To amplify a ministry calling - apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher

• To meet peers/collegues

• To solicit help in a particular area

• To create an online business card/resume/archive of work 

• To ignite your creative/intellectual passion 

• To create an online sphere of influence

• To advertise your business or church

• To explore your interests

• To improve your spelling

• To risk being vulnerable and known 

• To develop and enjoy a hobby

• To erode your pride

• To stretch out of your comfort zones

• To practice the discipline of writing

• To reach, teach, train those you mentor

• To access new mentors in your life

Instructional guidelines for blogging can be found all over the Internet and include everything from how to write a post to proper online ettiquette.  Like many other things, the best way to learn is through trial and error, with practice.  When in doubt, follow this simple guideline: blog with either a point, a purpose, a passion or all three.

User-generated and driven content is rapidly gaining a momentum across the Internet and forcasters anticipate the impact of social networking will forever transform how we use the media. Whether you work for a church, serve at a church or simply attend church, you have a pre-existing social network that will eventually be spending more and more time online.  Furthermore, the rise of the Emergent Church movement has brought the concept of "conversation" into the forefront of current Christian thought.  Blogging facillitates open dialog because of its capacity to accept and respond to comments.