As I spend more time reading other blogs, I am connecting with online communities left and right. There are communities built around technology, sports, news, family, and just about anything you can think of. The Internet is a place where common minds can connect in a very convenient way. Churches are starting to catch onto this kind of community as well. Most churches today have websites, but they are strictly a copy of the church bulletin that you can pick up during service. I know this because I used to upload the church bulletin for a church that I worked for. I made the information look more appealing, but nothing really changed. In my defense it was like pulling teeth to get content from the church staff and I was a one man team with multiple full time jobs.
If I am checking out your church, the first place I am going visit is to your website. If the information there doesn’t happen to grab my attention, my visit may end there and I never walked through the doors and met the wonderful community that is already happening there. Yes, I am a part of that generation. I don’t want to waste my time or yours. I know what I am looking for and I will try to make my search as efficient as possible. When I find a church blog that is engaging and open, encouraging community participation, I salivate a little bit. I crave community and connecting with real people. Don’t be a poser or a fake because I will find you out eventually.
I have been thinking a lot about what makes an online social network work for a church. There are several blogs out there that have found a lot of success for churches. Can we apply the same formulas from successful offline communities to online communities and get the same results? These questions took me back to where I have had success with offline communities. Also, this thought process has been inspired some from Tony Morgan’s book, ‘Killing Cockroaches.’ I have found success in offline communities where there is a vision and direction. Without vision and direction, the community typically ends up going in any number of directions and never accomplishes anything as one entity. I led a Youth Ministry for 4 years and I had a lot of success using the Purpose Driven Youth Ministry approach. Props to Doug Fields and everyone at Saddleback. Can a blog become “Purpose Driven”? Can a blog meet the purposes of evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, worship, and ministry?
I plan on visiting each of these purposes in the context of blogging and I hope to come out the otherside with a vision statement of purpose and direction for this churchpunk community. Right now this community is very quiet compared to others that I visit regularly. I am trying to imagine what this community could be if given a purpose and direction. How can this blog work for God’s Kingdom? I would love to hear from you about your wants/expectations of Churchpunk. How can I use my gifts to make this a resource and community for you?
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