Recently there have been more examples popping up of church websites that display some of the emerging trends in interactive web presence. Static web pages, those that provide service times, location & an uninteractive front page, are being transformed in response to the new values presented by the new media. As has been talked about so often here, a couple of these values include interactivity and fresh content.
The web site of Westwinds Community Church in Jackson, Michigan is a good example because with out being overly flashy or polished it provides evidence that their church is responding to the changes in our culture, the way we communicate and the values we place on such communication.
You can click into their landing page to see that it has:
2) blogs
3) podcasts
4) fresh content
These four simple (and free!) elements convey to visitors an important message: our church is active and engaging.
Obviously, it isn't our goal to conform to cultural standards. Our goal is to penetrate culture so we can transform people. One of the best ways to do that is to speak in a language they will understand and engage them.
Yes, you'll also find many in the church micro-blogging on twitter - course that goes a long way in my book.
http://twitter.com/cynthiaware
blogging, blogs, church websites, microblogging, podcasts, streaming video content twitter
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Thanks for making us feel special! We’ve built all these elements into our site. We’re a very new church, but have been able to add all of these elements for very low cost. We use Vimeo for very nice streaming video that is free. For our next sermon series, we’re working on a intro video that will appear on our home page. Vimeo will even allow HD content for free. We use the iTunes Music Store to support RSS of our podcasts, and wordpress to support a free blog that is linked to our web site. Of course Twitter (http://twitter.com/beneige) goes without saying! Our web site doesn’t quite have the 2.0 look and feel yet, but we’re doing what we can now to prepare for later. It can be done cheaply and with a little training, most volunteers can handle regular updates
Ben, good to hear from a pioneer pastor, especially because I know from our conversations you carry a passion to engage with the online generation. Great time to link to Ephesus Church / Charlotte, North Carolina.
Great advice!
Hi Cynthia,
I’m one of the pastors at Westwinds Church. Thanks for mentioning our efforts to use web and tech. One correction - our church is in Jackson Michigan, not Mississippi. I’d just hate for someone to visit expecting a lovely fall Sunday only to find six inches of snow in October!
Thanks again -
Ben
Hey, Cynthia. Did you get my comment from earlier today? It seemed to post then vanish. Hmmm. Well, thank you for the post on our site. Come visit us if you are ever in the area. I subscribed to your twitter feed. I am at http://www.twitter.com/shameonyoko. Peace.
Hi “other” ben. Thanks for the correction and I will not even explain how that happened! Great job on your site.
John - got no other comment (?) but now I’ll go check my Aksimet in case for what ever reason it got caught up in the filter. I did get your twitter request and I hope I accepted it. I’ll go check now.
Thanks for the great comments about the site. I was the one who designed and implemented the site and it is great to see that people understand the simple yet content rich feel I was going for!
Glad to give Coefficient Media some attention!
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