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The Scripps New Service published a thought-provoking article by Terry Mattingly entitled Ministers Find Online World Time Consuming.

The good news is that ambitious religious leaders can do 24/7, online, multi-media, interactive ministry at the local, national and even global levels. And the bad news? Users will expect them to build and maintain these 24/7, online, multi-media, interactive ministries at the local, national and even global levels.

How are you doing managing the opportunities for online ministry?  Are you overwhelmed by reading and writing email, blogs, newsletters, forums, and participating in social networks?  Or have you found effective ways to manage the digital world?  If the latter, what insight do you have to share with others who may feel overwhelmed?

If you are one of those people whose head is spinning with all the new Internet terms like blog, podcast, folksonomy, or netiquette, here’s one more: webinar.  In this article, I’ll explain in plain English what a webinar is, how it works, why you should consider participating in one or even hosting one.  Plus I’ll include examples from a previous webinar and provide details on how you can participate in an informative webinar tomorrow on the NE1 Web Page Editor at no cost.

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Last week we began talking about how to determine which modes of communication an organization should utilize.  With so many options like websites, e-newsletters, blogs, podcasts, bulletins, printed newsletters, brochures, and more, deciding among them can be a huge challenge.  We looked at some of the factors to consider and evaluated several communication modes on those factors.  Hopefully, it helped clarify the pros and cons of various modes and got you thinking about new ways you might be able to communicate more effectively.

It’s very common, particularly, for small organizations to get overwhelmed at the thought of trying to tap into all the new modes of communication available to us today.  It’s challenging enough to get your existing publications, websites, newsletters, etc done on time with excellence.  How can you possibly add more to your plate?

Well, in the last two years we at OurChurch.Com have added five new communications modes - an announcements forum, announcements email subscription, this blog, RSS feeds for the announcements and blog, and press release distribution.  Here are some essential time-saving tips we learned along the way: (more…)

Last week I wrote a bit about what it means to inform people on their terms.  In this day and age, we simply can’t assume and expect people to be always looking for or listening to our communications.  People are constantly being bombarded with messages and have a natural tendency to skim and filter, sometimes missing important messages.  They also have so many different choices in the ways, tools, or modes to use to communicate that it’s impossible to get a message to everyone using the same mode.

“The big challenge, however, is deciding which modes of communication to use.   Does a small church in a rural farm town need a website, an e-newsletter, and a blog complete with RSS feeds?  Should a multi-national ministry mail out monthly newsletters to all its supporters?  Does a business need to be able to text message their clients when they have a sale to remain competitive?�

Let’s take a look… (more…)

In our last blog article I posted some 2007 predictions, focusing on trends in communication technology and their impact on Christian ministry.  The prediction that sparked the most comments and the one I’ve been thinking most about recently is, “Organizations will have to inform people on their terms.�

What are “their terms?â€�  How does an organization, whether it’s a church, a ministry, a school, a business, or some other type of organization, determine the best way to communicate with its audience (congregation, clients, parents, students, etc)?  What do you do if your audience is so diverse that includes some people who don’t even use computers and others for whom their computer is practically an appendage? (more…)