This is a guest post by David Brown.

Some Church’s do things the same way they have been doing them for years. Sadly, these Church’s rarely attract new members and eventually are forced to close their doors. More progressive Church’s are constantly looking for new material, outreach opportunities and community involvement. These are all very important for the grown of any Church. Now ask yourself, “who are we reaching”. You may be in a large Church that attracts thousands every week or a small country Church with a handful of members. Either way, you have the opportunity to reach many, many more for the Kingdom of God.

Acts 1:8 tells us “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem (city), in all Judea (state) and Samaria (Country), and to the ends of the earth (World).” Preaching and ministering to your existing members is not enough. Even reaching out to those in your community, is not enough in God’s eye. We are called to witness to the world.

I am blessed to be a part of a small Baptist Church in a very poor and rural area. However we are reaching many more than those in the Church. Most businesses now know that they must have a large online presence to stay in business. The same philosophy applies to the Church for two reasons; Church growth, and Kingdom growth.

Church Growth

You could have a beautiful Church with the best preacher, music, and services. You may have wonderful programs for all age groups and great community involvement. Even with this, many in your community won’t know about your Church. A growing percentage of the population will shop around online before making any large purchase. The same applies when they are shopping around for a Church. Can you be found online? Do you provide information about all of your services, programs, & small groups? Do you have specific information just for visitors? These can make all the difference for some people when deciding if they should even bother visiting your Church.

Kingdom Growth

As I stated above, Acts 1:8, and many other verses in the Bible tell that we should be witnessing to people all over the world. No it is not likely that any one Church is going to impact everyone in the world, but do you reaching as many as possible? Christian blogs reach thousands of people every day that have never set foot into a Church. Services can be streamed online for everyone to view. With the internet, the opportunities are endless.

Wither your Church has a membership of 50 or 50,000, if you are not also spreading the Gospel online; you are missing opportunities to grow His kingdom. Are you just preaching to the choir, or are you actively engaged in being His witness to the ends of the earth?

This is a guest post by David Brown from Renewed Strength  Please visit Renewed Strength for more inspiring posts.

Photo courtsey of 15RichmondPark

Today’s guest post is by Cara Shelton, co-author of Classic Christianity: A Year of Timeless Devotions.

I love to teach kids the Bible! It’s addicting, really, watching their faces light up when they “get” the lesson. For over 30 years, I’ve been plugging away teaching Sunday School, AWANA lessons, VBS – pretty much whenever they’ll let me up in front of a group of kids at church! The best part is the relationships I build with the boys and girls – they always remember me, and are eager to remind me what their favorite part of the lesson was!

Other teachers have asked me what me ‘secret’ is. What they really want to know is, “Why do the kids pay attention when you teach?” After all, I’m, ahem, more than 20 years old and no beauty queen. Why would they sit there and watch me for …yes…15 minutes or even a bit more?

Well, there are the little tricks that every good teacher already knows. I know I have to compete with video games and cartoons, to some degree, so I’d better be animated and colorful! I vary my voice pitch and tone. I move around a LOT! I use my hands and face to express emotion, to emphasize, to call attention to a point. But, the real bag of tricks comes with an extension cord!

You see, I have a new tool in my teaching arsenal, which has all but replaced my flannelgraph of old! It’s my computer and my Epson Powerlite Presenter. Now I have pictures and maps that illustrate my points, I can “fly” the students to the location of the Bible lesson, and I can give them the background information they need to understand the critical points of the teaching!

Let me give you a few examples. In VBS this year, I used the Presenter and my computer with a wireless connection to “fly” the kids to Capernaum. I simply used Google Earth to make a flight from the front of our church, up, up, and across the whole world, down, down, to tiny Israel, to the edge of the Sea of Galilee, to the little town of Capernaum. I saved it as a “trip” and was able to play it for the kids the next day. Wow. Google Earth had some pictures I used – like the picture of Peter’s house. What did this do for the kids? Well, they realized that these PLACES and these PEOPLE are real. Peter really did exist – and there are remnants from his house!

Every time we visit a new place, we can “take off” from church, and “land” at our Bible destination. We talk about the time Jesus lived, giving historical and geographical context. I look for pictures to illustrate important points. Google Earth has tons of great pictures from all across the region.

But that isn’t the only thing my little Powerlite Presenter can do. I also create illustrations for my Bible lessons. I look up pictures, scan in photos or maps, and search for images that will make the story come to life. What does a fisherman’s net look like? I can show them. What did Soloman’s temple really LOOK like? I have a model all ready to walk through. I simply save the jpg images, tag them with a numerical code that puts them in the order I want them, and download the images onto a flashdrive. I can plug the flashdrive right into the presenter, and use the remote to forward through them from anywhere in the room.

With just a little more work, I can also make up a slide show, complete with music from the region. Burn it onto a DVD, and the presenter will play that as well. Since Epson’s Powerlite Presenter has a good sound system and a mic, I’m not limited as to the size of my audience. I have used it in a single classroom, or in front in the sanctuary, projecting onto the “big” screen.

So, I’ll keep on teaching Bible lessons, teaching about missionaries’ lives, and whatever else God leads me to teach. And I will keep on looking for ways to bring it all to life for the kids whenever I do. Have you noticed that I never once have used the term “Bible stories”? That’s because they aren’t just stories, they are the real lives and real adventures of real people living for Jesus! Technology can help us make it just that real for kids, as well as for the adults we minister to!

How would you use a projector during a teaching time with children? Have you found other online resources that make Bible lessons come to life? I can hardly wait to hear!

Happy Flying!

Cara

The internet has grown up and moved out of the desktop computer. It’s now making it’s new home inside devices that we use while we’re on the go: the modern cellphone. When Steve Jobs unveiled the first-generation iPhone in 2007, he did more than revolutionize the mobile device – he gave us a chance to take everything we love about the computer with us. This paradigm shift has led to the creation of over 400,000 app developer jobs (and counting) that hadn’t existed before the advent of Apples iTunes App Store.

Because of this movement towards on-the-go interaction, I’ve found that we’re living in a very special moment in history. Advancements in technology, medicine, transportation, entertainment and the internet have made our lives dramatically easier (and more awesome) than any generation before us. Even as technology opens us up to connect and interact with people living all over the planet, it’s also causing communities to flourish on a local, more personal level.

This has incredible implications for the body of Christ, especially when churches and ministries are proactive in reaching people wherever they are. When technology can be used to help spread the gospel, it becomes a life-changing mechanism for good, rather than a time-wasting distraction. It seems like technology has been rapidly advancing these past few years, and some amazing opportunities have begun to pop-up for churches and ministries – but are they just passing fads or a sneak-peak into the future or communication?

If you’ve got a smartphone and you’re a christian, you probably have the Bible App loaded on your phone. If you don’t have it on your device, please stop reading this article and go download it (for free) – right now. The Bible App by YouVersion is a perfect example of how a single church engaged with technology (specifically mobile technology) is helping people have easier access to the bible on their mobile devices. A few weeks ago, they hit 50 million installs. 50 MILLION people have the Bible App installed on their mobile devices (and this app was developed by one church)!

Just like building a website is a necessary part of connecting with congregates, all signs are pointing towards churches and ministries having mobile presence as well. From the looks of it, this mobile craze isn’t a fad. According to AllthingsD.com, mobile devices now make up 20% of overall web traffic in the U.S.. Android and iOS devices account for more than 80% of the U.S. smartphone market, and more people are choosing smartphone than other devices when it’s time to upgrade that wonderful two year jail-sentence…er phone contract.

How much time are people spending inside apps on their fancy new smartphones? Around 94 minutes per day (up from 66 minutes in 2010). These numbers make sense. If you’re on-the-go, you’ll use what you have with you to connect to the content you like. Those findings also conclude that people spend an average of 20 more minutes per day inside of apps than browsing the mobile web! That means that when they’re on their devices, they’re engaging with mobile apps more than mobile websites.

But does your church really need an app?

Beyond wanting one because they’re cool (all the hipsters out there are drooling right now), there’s also those finicky issues of cost, features, and usefulness. Will your congregation embrace your church app, or will it only be downloaded by your staff and that nerdy summer intern who says everything is “awesome”.

Before you decide to jump on the app bandwagon, you’ll need to take into account the demographics of your church and your community.

How? Just look around on Sunday morning.

How many people are using smartphones? If they’re not engaging in conversation before/after service, there’s a very high possibility that they’re on their ‘smart device’ playing Temple Run. I mean, that’s what I do if I’m not talking to people. Take a mental inventory and see how many people would really benefit from having your information on their devices. Second, think about how you’re marketing and who you’re marketing your church or ministry to. If you included a scannable QR code on e-mails or mail inserts, would those who receive them have a device capable of downloading your app? You’ll also need to do some research and see which features you’d like to have on your church app. Do you want it to also connect to other ministries, or just showcase your messages and upcoming events?

Like I mentioned earlier, technology is moving full steam ahead, and if we’re not careful, we’ll find ourselves behind the times when new forms of engaging communication become available.  I believe that Christianity and technology can work hand-in-hand to connect the mobile generation with the truth of Christ, but with that will come unique challenges and exciting opportunities. New technology can be scary, but when embraced correctly – it can yield positive eternal results. What do you think, do you feel like mobile apps for churches will be/have been beneficial for church communication?

You can find out more information about Onseeker Technologies and their Church / Ministry App features and pricing by clicking Here. You can find Frank spending too much time on twitter right HERE.

I caught this headline in Twitter today TBN Announces Launch of Innovative Online Service, iTBN.  It seemed relevant to what we talk about here on Christian Web Trends, so I clicked through.  The first thing I noticed is the press release is 6 days old and this is the first I’ve heard of it.

Then after learning that iTBN is basically Trinity Broadcaasting Network’s answer to Hulu I wondered…  does anyone who uses the Internet actually watch Christian television?

Rather than wondering, I thought I’d ask.  Are you interested in watching Christian television shows via iTBN?  Do you think anyone will watch?

Josh McDowell is the author of two of the best selling and best reasoned apologetics books of all time, More than a Carpenter and Evidence that Demands Verdict. So, while it’s not surprising to see him lamenting the decline in morals and the belief in absolute truth, it’s quite shocking to see where he decided to place the blame.

As reported by The Christian Post:

“What has changed everything?” asked the apologist from Campus Crusade for Christ International as he spoke on “Unshakable Truth, Relevant Faith” at the Billy Graham Center in Asheville, N.C.. His answer was, the Internet.

“The Internet has given atheists, agnostics, skeptics, the people who like to destroy everything that you and I believe, the almost equal access to your kids as your youth pastor and you have… whether you like it or not,”

First of all, I don’t believe the Internet has given anyone equal access to my kids because they spend way more time with me, my wife, church, and others who live out their Christian faith than they spend online.

Second, McDowell seems to be implying that in order to successfully pass on your faith to your kids you have to indoctrinate them with Christianity and never let them know anything about other worldviews. I have a major problem with that. I want my kids to know about atheism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and every other –ism. I want them to compare the truth of the Bible with the lies other worldviews perpetuate.  The way to pass on our faith to our kids is not to put our hands over their eyes and ears every time they encounter a non-Christian worldview

I do think we absolutely need to protect our children from pornography and sites promoting hate and violence.

And I do think there is a real risk that if parents do not teach their kids the fundamentals of the Christian faith, if they don’t live out their faith, and if they don’t explain the fallacies of other worldviews that children free to roam the Internet on their own, that they will drift to the dominant, post-modern, relativistic worldview.

But let’s not blame or fear the Internet. Let’s prepare our children for the inevitable exposure they will have to other worldviews both offline and online.

What do you think? Is the Internet the “greatest threat to Christians?”

It’s 2011 and have to say it: we are now in a post-website world.  What I mean by this is that your website is now no longer the primary way that your users will interact with you.  While a website is an essential piece of your overall online strategy, it can no longer be your primary focus online. Instead, the primary way that your users will find you and interact with you will be through social media.

When you search Google you expect to see the entire Internet, right? When you check Facebook, you expect to see updates from all your friends, right? Wrong.

Google, Facebook, Amazon, NetFlix and countless other companies are personalizing their sites for us. They’re showing us things based on our location, demographic info, likes and dislikes. It’s all about “relevance.” The concept sounds good, but the end result could leave each of us in our own little bubble surrounded by news, content, media and people that agree with us… or at least agree with our past preferences.

This has some very significant spiritual implications which Kurt Steinrueck wrote about in an excellent post on Christian SEO Guys. It’s well worth the read and includes video of a fascinating TED Talk given by Eli Periser on this topic.

Check out: What Aren’t You Seeing On the Internet

Does it concern you that Google, Facebook, and other sites are personalizing information for us in ways we have little control over and may not even be aware of?

One of the big challenges for adults is keeping themselves and their children protected from dangerous Internet content – pornography and sites promoting hate, violence, drug use and other evils.

A recent survey by the Barna Group found that 42% of parents would like to hear from their churches when it comes to media and technology issues. However, few churches are talking about how to protect yourself and your family from harmful Internet sites. So, we want to get more of those conversations going.

Would you take this quick 2 minute survey on Internet filtering software?

Then post a comment and let us know:

• How important do you think protecting children from harmful Internet sites is?
• What if any Internet filtering software are you using? Are you happy with it?
• If not, what’s the biggest thing preventing you from using Internet filtering software?

[image by tm22]

Earlier this week we discussed new research from the Barna Group that shows many parents and teens would like more guidance from their churches on media and technology issues.

So, what are the biggest media/tech issues churches should be teaching/training on?

Here are 8 that come to mind for me:

1. Internet filtering/monitoring – How to set up software to block porn, violence, and hate sites from being displayed on computers in one’s home. Plus logging/reviewing websites being visited.
2. Protecting teens on social media – Discussing issues and providing training about the dangers of social media – stalkers, sharing inappropriate content, etc.
3. Phones & texting – Training for parents & teens, Internet filtering for phones
4. Protecting your marriage from online dangers – Internet filtering, accountability, appropriate use of social media for adults.
5. Media usage – How much TV/Internet is too much? Time management tools. Addressing Internet/gaming addictions.
6. Being fully present – Family relationships are important, but often families eat dinner in front of the TV, conversations are interrupted by phone calls and texting. Eliminating distractions and being fully engaged in family moments is a big deal.
7. Being salt and light online – The Internet isn’t all bad. It’s also a great opportunity to share your faith and show God’s love with people you connect with online.
8. People and churches working online together – Your church probably has a website and may be using Facebook, Twitter, and blogs as well. Talk about what the church is doing online and how individuals can connect with the church and amplify what the church is doing.

What do you think? Do you think churches ought to address these 8 issues? What did I miss? What other issues do you think churches should address?

[image by tm22]

According to a new research study conducted by The Barna Group, many parents and teens are interested in receiving guidance from their churches concerning media and technology, yet few churches are addressing these issues.

The summary of the study reports,

Most parents and tweens/teens have not heard any kind of teaching in a church, religious setting, or public forum (like a school) about how families can best use media, entertainment or technology.

Yet the report goes on to say,

When asked if they would be open to one version of such training—“a Christian or faith-based perspective about how to be a good user of entertainment and technology without letting things negatively impact your family relationships”—about two-fifths of parents (42%) and one-third of tweens and teens (33%) expressed interest.

You can read the full report here.

This looks like a clear opportunity that churches are currently missing. It also looks like like an area where churches could use some encouragement, guidance and resources.  This could very well turn into a series of posts based on your feedback and ideas. So, let’s talk about how churches are or could be addressing issues related to technology…

1. Do you think churches have a responsibility to provide biblical guidance about technology to parents and teens?
2. How is your church doing when it comes to providing that guidance?
3. What suggestions would you give church leaders who want to provide guidance on technology issues?