Communication in most churches is pretty pathetic. Watch this video and you'll see just how behind the technology curve most churches are.
There are a number of converging problems related to church communication. Here are some of those that I see.
1. Newsletter dependent. Print dependent. Not web flexible.
2. Members believe it is the church's responsibility to communicate to them. Not their responsibility to communicate back or even ask for information.
3. Communication is primarily an information transaction; not a engagement and participation encounter. Communication should increase human interaction and participation.
4. Use of the web is poorly conceived and executed. Just a web version of a paper/print brochure. Look at your site statisics. People use your website just as much as they read your newsletter.
5. Starts at the top; reinforced throughout. We don't talk to one another, except in the parking lot to complain about people not talking to one another. And whose responsibility is it to communicate?
Our approach to communication in the church contributes greatly to the consumerist mindset. Members think that they are consumers of church developed content that is created mostly for their benefit. As a result, communication is non-existent, and no one is happy.
Web 2.0 communication uses digital tools to foster an environment of interpersonal communication. If you don't want that, then you are not only a 20th century dinosaur, but you are also contributing to the demise of your church.
So, whose responsibility is it to use Web 2.0 technology to enhance church communication? Whose responsibility isn't it?
If as a pastor, a DCE, a youth worker, an elder, a secretary, a volunteer, or as a member, you are not trying to figure out how to take advantage of digital technology to enhance your relationships with people, then you are functioning at a lower standard of human performance than you should be.
Does this mean that we should all become geeks? No. It means that we focus on our relationships with one another, and we use the very best tools available to us to make those relationships work.
What Web 2.0 is.
What you see - that Web 2.0 is about human interaction - you also can see then that the church must change from a consumer model to a community model. By community, I simply mean that we come to church to be involved with people at the very depth of our lives.
In this video, I see the promise, potential and opportunities that come with using digital technology in the church.
Now here is an important clarification that comes from the world of social network theory.
There are two perspectives that research has shown to be evident in most groups. One is that people who know each other well, share the same values, and spend a lot of time together do not share new information very often. They already know what everyone else knows. So that conversation is really about using shared information to maintain the status quo. If you are a member of a tight, close group of friends or associates, ask yourself how innovative you are as a group. How far are you pushing your knowledge and support of one another. Or, is it just about reinforcing your comfort wiht one another.
The second perspective is called the "strength of loose ties." This is a principle that people with whom we have little contact and share little in common, whom we know as casual acquaintances, are often a better source of information for new ideas than our closest friends.
When applied to the church, most churches therefore are too close one another, too comfortable, too familiar, to have a real dynamic communication. Instead, all the communication is simply reinforcement of previously accepted information. This means that one of the keys to strengthening the church is to open it up to new people with new ideas and new connections that freshen the community life. Only when this ethic, and yes, this is a moral/ethical position, only when this ethic is operating will this tool called Web 2.0 be beneficial to the church.
So, this means that the issue of technology and communication is not a question of technology, but a question of discipleship and spiritual maturity.
Odd isn't that the most sophisticated tools require maturity to fully utilize! Yet, that is the way it is.
I added a link to this in my web 2.0 articles section
Posted by: Jerry | February 09, 2007 at 05:32 PM