church and the internet
Church Times blog reports on church websites, and discovers that half the churches in England have no useful web presence.
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Maggi has kept a blog since September 2003, writing about theology and faith, the arts and literature, and a little about life and random nonsense...
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In my experience they can’t get their act together. Even if they manage to find someone to do a site, they are hopelessly disorganised about content, aims, etc. And sometimes are even v. fussy about who they want doing it.
In my case I was told my help wasn’t required, the day after the Rector left, mainly because I didn’t live in the village (the person concerned, PCC Treasurer, has got something against people who don’t live in the village – even though half the things that go on in the village would not happen without input from outside). It was the Rector who got me involved, and the alacrity with which I was dismissed after he departed was something I found very disappointing. I tend to give that church a miss these days, and it still hasn’t got a web site.
I’m told they also once dismissed a Rector because he wanted the Church to be more inclusive, and wanted involve young people more!
P.s. actually they haven’t had a Rector for almost a year, either.
Start off small is what I’d say. I pushed the idea of having a church blog a while back. There’s so many freeware sites available that cost nothing (see blogger.com). Of course there were detractors saying that there would be a lot of people leaving complaints and inappropriate material etc. Now the blog is the main source of keeping up to date with what’s happening in church life during the week. As for inappropriate comments – not one as yet. I’m sad to hear about Tony’s experience. If we believe that God has given us gifts for the edification of the Church then we’re obligated to recognise those gifts and make sure we release people to use them.