Comments on: How Long Will Analog Churches Survive the Digital Age? http://www.faithandweb.com/2007/04/17/how-long-will-analog-churches-survive-the-digital-age/ A Church Web Diva's Musings on Excellence in Religious Websites Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:11:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Starting a Church Website on a Shoestring: Part 1 of 2 : Faith and Web http://www.faithandweb.com/2007/04/17/how-long-will-analog-churches-survive-the-digital-age/comment-page-1/#comment-301 Starting a Church Website on a Shoestring: Part 1 of 2 : Faith and Web Wed, 20 Jun 2007 01:29:20 +0000 http://www.faithandweb.com/?p=19#comment-301 [...] Not all churches have websites. Those of us who have them tend to take them for granted and assume that everyone else has them. But the more I explore this area, the more I learn that’s just not [...] [...] Not all churches have websites. Those of us who have them tend to take them for granted and assume that everyone else has them. But the more I explore this area, the more I learn that’s just not [...]

]]> By: Anna Belle http://www.faithandweb.com/2007/04/17/how-long-will-analog-churches-survive-the-digital-age/comment-page-1/#comment-67 Anna Belle Sun, 06 May 2007 21:31:45 +0000 http://www.faithandweb.com/?p=19#comment-67 Shawn -- I expect you are right about the upcoming generations. How will they even find a church without a website? Shawn — I expect you are right about the upcoming generations. How will they even find a church without a website?

]]> By: Shawn http://www.faithandweb.com/2007/04/17/how-long-will-analog-churches-survive-the-digital-age/comment-page-1/#comment-66 Shawn Sun, 06 May 2007 20:55:32 +0000 http://www.faithandweb.com/?p=19#comment-66 Not embracing the internet won't kill you, but being the kind of church that refuses to embrace the internet will. Refusing to use new internet modes of communication (alongside traditional ones) demonstrates that a church doesn't really understand or care to understand upcoming generations. Although five years is a little melodramatic. Not embracing the internet won’t kill you, but being the kind of church that refuses to embrace the internet will. Refusing to use new internet modes of communication (alongside traditional ones) demonstrates that a church doesn’t really understand or care to understand upcoming generations.

Although five years is a little melodramatic.

]]> By: pligg.com http://www.faithandweb.com/2007/04/17/how-long-will-analog-churches-survive-the-digital-age/comment-page-1/#comment-63 pligg.com Sun, 06 May 2007 19:37:07 +0000 http://www.faithandweb.com/?p=19#comment-63 <strong>How Long Will Analog Churches Survive the Digital Age? : Faith and Web...</strong> I wonder if we should have a ordained calls for Media Chaplain :?... How Long Will Analog Churches Survive the Digital Age? : Faith and Web…

I wonder if we should have a ordained calls for Media Chaplain :?…

]]> By: Anna Belle http://www.faithandweb.com/2007/04/17/how-long-will-analog-churches-survive-the-digital-age/comment-page-1/#comment-26 Anna Belle Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:34:23 +0000 http://www.faithandweb.com/?p=19#comment-26 Scott – I think you're right too. How can that be? Beats me. Actually, though, your point makes my heart skip a beat, as it means my responsibilities as a church webmaster are potentially a lot broader. It’s one thing to cover the basics, and do the best you can at that. It’s quite another to cultivate a virtual private piety. Scott – I think you’re right too. How can that be? Beats me. Actually, though, your point makes my heart skip a beat, as it means my responsibilities as a church webmaster are potentially a lot broader. It’s one thing to cover the basics, and do the best you can at that. It’s quite another to cultivate a virtual private piety.

]]> By: Scott Wells http://www.faithandweb.com/2007/04/17/how-long-will-analog-churches-survive-the-digital-age/comment-page-1/#comment-25 Scott Wells Thu, 19 Apr 2007 02:59:52 +0000 http://www.faithandweb.com/?p=19#comment-25 I think it easy to overrate the personal, face-to-face character of churches, or at least there are people who would like options. Worship itself has private and public dimensions, and many have and do study and serve singly, even in solitude. A digital church has much in common with private piety and ought to be respected and cultivated as such. A lot of the time, what I get from the Internet spiritually is more vital, immediate and nourishing than what I get in "real" settings. I think it easy to overrate the personal, face-to-face character of churches, or at least there are people who would like options. Worship itself has private and public dimensions, and many have and do study and serve singly, even in solitude. A digital church has much in common with private piety and ought to be respected and cultivated as such.

A lot of the time, what I get from the Internet spiritually is more vital, immediate and nourishing than what I get in “real” settings.

]]> By: Anna Belle http://www.faithandweb.com/2007/04/17/how-long-will-analog-churches-survive-the-digital-age/comment-page-1/#comment-23 Anna Belle Wed, 18 Apr 2007 23:12:09 +0000 http://www.faithandweb.com/?p=19#comment-23 What wonderful comments. Many thanks, all of you. Zen training makes me red-faced – realizing that this kind of dualistic thinking that I started to wander down misses the point altogether. What each of you says, in quite different ways, certainly jives with my experience. Speaking to the church as an early adapter, I remember reading uus-l online pre-Web – even pre-Gopher days – via Bitnet. How I loved having those digital snippets of religious musings punctuate my workday. But like Philocrites, much as I love the Web (and I don’t know many people quite as nuts about it as me), the relational piece and being there are even more important. Almost every Sunday, I come away clear that the direct experience has inspired me to be a better person. And Dan, I must defer to you. You have more experience with these things than I. I will still check with other churches, synagogues, etc., but it’s now obvious that a more sensible way to phrase this question would be, “Can your congregation survive without a strong digital component?” However, it’s not as much fun. What wonderful comments. Many thanks, all of you. Zen training makes me red-faced – realizing that this kind of dualistic thinking that I started to wander down misses the point altogether.

What each of you says, in quite different ways, certainly jives with my experience. Speaking to the church as an early adapter, I remember reading uus-l online pre-Web – even pre-Gopher days – via Bitnet. How I loved having those digital snippets of religious musings punctuate my workday.

But like Philocrites, much as I love the Web (and I don’t know many people quite as nuts about it as me), the relational piece and being there are even more important. Almost every Sunday, I come away clear that the direct experience has inspired me to be a better person.

And Dan, I must defer to you. You have more experience with these things than I. I will still check with other churches, synagogues, etc., but it’s now obvious that a more sensible way to phrase this question would be, “Can your congregation survive without a strong digital component?” However, it’s not as much fun.

]]> By: The Eclectic Cleric http://www.faithandweb.com/2007/04/17/how-long-will-analog-churches-survive-the-digital-age/comment-page-1/#comment-22 The Eclectic Cleric Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:02:44 +0000 http://www.faithandweb.com/?p=19#comment-22 Historically, churches have been rivaled only by pornographers among the "early adapters" of new communications technologies, going right back to the days of the printing press and movable type. But the "essential experience" of religion (like that of it's rival) remains essentially unchanged. In my own era I've seen the mimeograph replaced by the high speed photocopier, electric typewriters and white out erased by the personal computer, which also transformed "Rolodex" from a brand into a metaphor, and replaced the Yellow Pages with Google. Podcasting, and sites like You Tube, My Space, and Second Life may represent the new frontier of this colonization of cyberspace, but church is still ultimately all about worship, fellowship, education, social action and pastoral care. It's a face-to-face, real-time experience of community, a "congregation" gathered together at a specific place and time to seek wisdom and inspiration, to ask the assistance of powers larger than ourseleves, and express our gratitude for the many blessings we have received. And it has been from time immemorial. THAT part never changes. Nor should it.... Historically, churches have been rivaled only by pornographers among the “early adapters” of new communications technologies, going right back to the days of the printing press and movable type. But the “essential experience” of religion (like that of it’s rival) remains essentially unchanged. In my own era I’ve seen the mimeograph replaced by the high speed photocopier, electric typewriters and white out erased by the personal computer, which also transformed “Rolodex” from a brand into a metaphor, and replaced the Yellow Pages with Google. Podcasting, and sites like You Tube, My Space, and Second Life may represent the new frontier of this colonization of cyberspace, but church is still ultimately all about worship, fellowship, education, social action and pastoral care. It’s a face-to-face, real-time experience of community, a “congregation” gathered together at a specific place and time to seek wisdom and inspiration, to ask the assistance of powers larger than ourseleves, and express our gratitude for the many blessings we have received. And it has been from time immemorial. THAT part never changes. Nor should it….

]]> By: Philocrites http://www.faithandweb.com/2007/04/17/how-long-will-analog-churches-survive-the-digital-age/comment-page-1/#comment-21 Philocrites Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:49:08 +0000 http://www.faithandweb.com/?p=19#comment-21 I think the church is fundamentally an analog institution, rightly so. Human beings are biological, relational creatures, and when push comes to shove most of the religious needs that a religious community addresses involve human relationships (no matter what forms of technology help mediate their interaction). I assume that Tony Miles is really talking only about a church's communications strategy. Communications is a both/and situation when it comes to print vs. digital media. Choosing one but not the other doesn't just favor some people's preferences; it fails to grasp how each medium extends the church's reach in distinctive ways. Print, after all, is viral, too: A good brochure, a printed sermon, a hymnal, even a well-made order of service are tangible and portable "technologies" that allow a person to take a piece of the analog church with them into the offline world. People use them and connect through them even where no laptop can reach: everywhere from the bathroom to the bus to the prison to the hospital. Even though I'm a big proponent of digital communications, I'm an even bigger proponent of the tactile, relational, tangible church and the people who need it. I think the church is fundamentally an analog institution, rightly so. Human beings are biological, relational creatures, and when push comes to shove most of the religious needs that a religious community addresses involve human relationships (no matter what forms of technology help mediate their interaction).

I assume that Tony Miles is really talking only about a church’s communications strategy. Communications is a both/and situation when it comes to print vs. digital media. Choosing one but not the other doesn’t just favor some people’s preferences; it fails to grasp how each medium extends the church’s reach in distinctive ways. Print, after all, is viral, too: A good brochure, a printed sermon, a hymnal, even a well-made order of service are tangible and portable “technologies” that allow a person to take a piece of the analog church with them into the offline world. People use them and connect through them even where no laptop can reach: everywhere from the bathroom to the bus to the prison to the hospital.

Even though I’m a big proponent of digital communications, I’m an even bigger proponent of the tactile, relational, tangible church and the people who need it.

]]> By: Dan http://www.faithandweb.com/2007/04/17/how-long-will-analog-churches-survive-the-digital-age/comment-page-1/#comment-20 Dan Wed, 18 Apr 2007 02:23:11 +0000 http://www.faithandweb.com/?p=19#comment-20 I serve in a congregation with a very mixed community, with some people on public assistance and some who are quite well off -- i.e., some with fantastic Internet access, and some people who don't own a computer. The interesting thing is that younger people with no computers know how to get access via libraries, and many have email addresses. But about half the elders in the congregation (over age 65) refuse to use computers, so I think it's more about age than income. I spend a lot of time doing digital ministry -- pastoral counseling via email? Definitely. Even with elders, email allows me to have easier access to their children, which sometimes makes ministry easier when the elders have serious health issues. So yes, I think digital ministry is already here, and it's growing faster than you think. And the only congregations I know of who don't use email, and don't have a Web site -- are the declining congregations. I serve in a congregation with a very mixed community, with some people on public assistance and some who are quite well off — i.e., some with fantastic Internet access, and some people who don’t own a computer. The interesting thing is that younger people with no computers know how to get access via libraries, and many have email addresses. But about half the elders in the congregation (over age 65) refuse to use computers, so I think it’s more about age than income.

I spend a lot of time doing digital ministry — pastoral counseling via email? Definitely. Even with elders, email allows me to have easier access to their children, which sometimes makes ministry easier when the elders have serious health issues. So yes, I think digital ministry is already here, and it’s growing faster than you think. And the only congregations I know of who don’t use email, and don’t have a Web site — are the declining congregations.

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