Blogging & The Great Commission

[JackWolfgang]

This content was originally posted to my blog at http://jackwolfgang.blogspot.com/2005/01/blogging-great-commission.html. I have posted it here in accordance with David's request (http://www.greatchurchwebsites.org/forums/announcement.php?f=20&a=14) that blog postings be copied and pasted instead of just referenced by URL:

At the Great Church Websites forum, the moderator posts a Question of the Week. This week's question asks:

How is your church using blogging to help fulfill the Great Commission?

I felt it appropriate to answer this question in my blog, and then post the Permanent Link to the forum. So here is my answer.

First of all, I wrote an article the other day about how blogging can help us to prepare a defense for the hope that is in us as we are called to do in I Peter 3:15. The post was designed to provoke thought. However, I believe that writing can help foster spiritual development, and I agree with some of the remarks made by Tim Bednar in an article called We Know More than Our Pastors (PDF, 601 kB). Bednar postulates that blogging can foster spiritual development by making the blogger think about what he/she believes, and providing feedback (through the blogging commentary, which unfortunately is not yet enabled on this blog) helps this development process by challenging the thought process more. Now this may seem that I have gone off topic, but I think that more mature Christians that are more secure in what they believe are more ready to share the gospel with others (in otherwords, fulfill the Great Commission: "Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations...")

However, I think the blog is more powerful than that in terms of fulfilling the Great Commission because the blog gives someone a voice. With very little knowledge of XHTML, HTML, and/or CSS, a person can be set up on a blog. There are a number of pre-defined templates out there, and there are a number of services that make it easy to blog. With the help of a church's IT staff, a very good blog can be set up in little time at all. In fact, the custom template for this blog, although not finished, is functional, and was done in under 3½ hours. By giving these people a voice, they are then enabled to share their testimony with a wider audience than they may have access to on a normal basis. They can also discuss the testimony through the comment area of their blog, as a seeker might post questions there.

Finally, a blog can encourage others to carry out the Great Commission. A prime example of this is e-Vangelism.com, which is the site of Andrew Careaga, who wrote a book by the title of E-vangelism: Sharing the Gospel in Cyberspace (1999. Lafayette, LA: Vital Issues Press.). When I purchased the book, the site (as I recall it) was a collection of links. In fact, the book didn't even include the term "blog" in the glossary. However, today, Andrew posts relavent information about Christianity on and off the net (from American Idol to U2 to Yahoo!).

In summary, blogs can help churches carry out the Great Commission in three ways:

1. By encouraging spiritual development, giving church members the courage and maturity to evangelize.
2. By giving church members a voice and "expanding their territory."
3. By encouraging church members to evangelize, both on the internet and off.

[David Gillaspey]

Hi Jack,

Thanks for your comments (in your offsite blog to which you linked). I like your summarization of how blogs can help churches carry out the Great Commission in three ways.

The question I would raise (for anyone to answer) in response is this: How can we ensure that the evangelizing voices of Christian bloggers are actually heard -- by seekers or even by non-seekers?

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[JackWolfgang]

The question I would raise (for anyone to answer) in response is this: How can we ensure that the evangelizing voices of Christian bloggers are actually heard -- by seekers or even by non-seekers?

David, that is a very good and very difficult question to answer. It also shares some aspects with how do we get any one to view and read our web sites, either seekers or non-seekers (and for that matter Christians).

I think Andrew Careaga (http://www.e-vangelism.com/) has the right idea by having two blogs, one for Christians and one for the general public (http://bloggedyblog.blogspot.com/). I think that kind of discussion about the world. He's on hiatus right now from the general public blog, but check out the links down the left side. What he's read, what he's listening to. At least in the listening department, it looks like a mix between secular musicians (Los Lonely Boys, Christian (David Crowder Band, switchfoot), and those who crossed both (Johnny Cash, BTW, that album (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006L7XQ/) he has linked has some great stuff on it).

However, I think rule number 1 is blogging is get out and post and post often. If the content isn't fresh and new, then who cares? Also be honest....after all we're called to proclaim truth, and who will believe we have it if we're dishonest? In fact, Seth Godin (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/) includes candor and timeliness among the five qualities that blogs must have four of to be successful.

I hope this ramble made sense.

[David Gillaspey]

Godin has an interesting blog site.

And I mean that.

Some blogs I've seen are little more than compilations of links to other sites or maybe online articles that the blogger found to be interesting. Godin does some of this, but at least he mixes in some original content.

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[srmcatee]

Hello,

I'm getting a 404 from your link.


http://home.alltel.net/jackwolfgang/...ommission.html (http://home.alltel.net/jackwolfgang/blog/2005/01/blogging-great-commission.html)

[JackWolfgang]

Hello,

I'm getting a 404 from your link.


http://home.alltel.net/jackwolfgang/...ommission.html (http://home.alltel.net/jackwolfgang/blog/2005/01/blogging-great-commission.html)

That would be because my blog moved when I did:

http://jackwolfgang.blogspot.com/2005/01/blogging-great-commission.html

[AtlanticWebfitters]

How can we ensure that the evangelizing voices of Christian bloggers are actually heard -- by seekers or even by non-seekers?

Hi David, Jack, All,

In the light of Portal Software and Wiki type software, non-technical persons can now contribute and add content. I've been working with local denominations finding myself faced with the issue of "governance"... or dealing with the content generated by members. I believe every member of every church should, at the very least, publish a testimony of how they came to know Jesus. I believe the 'blogs' should be readily available to the public. (I believe that if non-Christians visiting are given permission to edit... they should be asked to "register" before contributing content.)

The question you asked is "how can we ensure those voices are heard." One solution is getting the right software in place. With the right software, every member (or family) has a webpage they are responsible for. Changes to content help the website rank higher... and every page needs to act like an independent website (with organic URLs).

By empowering each and every church member, to contribute and help with SEO; that's how they will be heard.

[flutem3]

Gifford wrote:

"I believe every member of every church should, at the very least, publish a testimony of how they came to know Jesus. I believe the 'blogs' should be readily available to the public. (I believe that if non-Christians visiting are given permission to edit... they should be asked to "register" before contributing content.)

The question you asked is "how can we ensure those voices are heard." One solution is getting the right software in place. With the right software, every member (or family) has a webpage they are responsible for. Changes to content help the website rank higher... and every page needs to act like an independent website (with organic URLs)."


Hi, Gifford,

In theory, I think that the above ideas are reasonable. However, I don't think it will ever happen...at least not in our church. And there are several reasons.

The first is that we have an aging, conservation congregation.
It is not a church of lots of computer literate people.
Many people are not writers and/or don't like to write.
Some people are private in their testimonies. They witness in their own ways.
Many websites are not large enough for each family to have its own space even if they would have one. I can think of three families which might do that. I do not include myself because I doubt that I would.
It is more than a question of software. Having available software is useful but getting people to use it is an entirely different project.I have had a space on our website for months upon which people could witness until their hearts are content. It is open to everyone. No registration is required. The only person who has written anything on it is me. Anything that is submitted comes through me so that if somebody wrote something nasty, I could delete it before it was published.

Gifford, if you find a way to make what you are suggesting work, I want to know about it, please. I am just still trying to find what will pull people into the website with some frequency. So far with a few exceptions, I have failed miserably. But the ones who do return are as faithful as can be. They each took the time to find out what was really on the website, and they discovered that articles, etc. do change. It is not a static site. In fact, most people don't even notice that the proverbs change every time they change a page (the proverb is on most pages...not all). I have tried changing it very fast to see if I could mess it up, but it was much too fast for my shenanigans.


Good luck and keep us informed.


Carol

PS What is an "organic URL"? I have heard of lots of organic things but not a URL...sounds weird. Do they grow them in space?

[JackWolfgang]

Gifford wrote:

"I believe every member of every church should, at the very least, publish a testimony of how they came to know Jesus. I believe the 'blogs' should be readily available to the public. (I believe that if non-Christians visiting are given permission to edit... they should be asked to "register" before contributing content.)

The question you asked is "how can we ensure those voices are heard." One solution is getting the right software in place. With the right software, every member (or family) has a webpage they are responsible for. Changes to content help the website rank higher... and every page needs to act like an independent website (with organic URLs)."


Hi, Gifford,

In theory, I think that the above ideas are reasonable. However, I don't think it will ever happen...at least not in our church. And there are several reasons.

The first is that we have an aging, conservation congregation.
It is not a church of lots of computer literate people.
Many people are not writers and/or don't like to write.
Some people are private in their testimonies. They witness in their own ways.
Many websites are not large enough for each family to have its own space even if they would have one. I can think of three families which might do that. I do not include myself because I doubt that I would.
It is more than a question of software. Having available software is useful but getting people to use it is an entirely different project.I have had a space on our website for months upon which people could witness until their hearts are content. It is open to everyone. No registration is required. The only person who has written anything on it is me. Anything that is submitted comes through me so that if somebody wrote something nasty, I could delete it before it was published.

Gifford, if you find a way to make what you are suggesting work, I want to know about it, please. I am just still trying to find what will pull people into the website with some frequency. So far with a few exceptions, I have failed miserably. But the ones who do return are as faithful as can be. They each took the time to find out what was really on the website, and they discovered that articles, etc. do change. It is not a static site. In fact, most people don't even notice that the proverbs change every time they change a page (the proverb is on most pages...not all). I have tried changing it very fast to see if I could mess it up, but it was much too fast for my shenanigans.

Having been in Carol's shoes (older less technically saavy congregation), one thing I tried was buying them all composition books in an attempt to get them to journal and define what they believe and why. I don't think it worked well, but it might work for another group.

[AtlanticWebfitters]

Well, I'm very curious to see if local congregations see the value in communing online. Obviously we are benefitting. So funny and interesting how communities are formed. no? Without a hint of physical representation, we congregate, leave messages for each other; the words we write and the spririt in which we convey our thoughts create concrete actions (tear in eye).

I've asked two local churches to try portal software.
West End Baptist Church (http://metromix.atlanticwebfitters.ca/)
Sandford United Baptist Church (http://metromix.atlanticwebfitters.ca/subc/)
The former is an inner city church, the latter, a church in a rural fishing community on the Southwest Coast of Nova Scotia (half way from Yarmouth to Digby, Carol. ;)

Let's see what happens? PS. Can someone tell me if my signature is inordinately long?

[flutem3]

Gifford,

I wish that communities got together like we do as well. I have met some wonderful people on forums. Of course, I have only been to two of them, and both involve churches. But this is my cup of tea.

I don't think your signature is "inordinately" long, but the real person to answer that on here is David, I think. You have it in a nice, compact style so that it seems okay to me. I doubt that I could get so much information in such a tiny space. I wouldn't be able to read it anyway. :D

I thank you for the geography lesson. I would go to Digby in an instant if the circumstances allowed. I loved it there. Another place I really like is a town called Huancayo, Peru`. It is high up in the Andes and is as different from Digby as a place could be. But I just loved being there as well.

However, lest anyone worry about it, I am very happy here in Wabash. It is a wonderful community with the kinds of opportunities which don't exist in communities which are much larger.

By the way, part of our church fell in. When I first heard about it, I thought the dome over the sanctuary collapsed. I would not have believed how terrible I felt. Now, I have a tiny understanding of the feeling of loss people experience when they lose their churches through fire, hurricanes, etc. We are not able to hold services in the church for awhile until the structural integrity is determined. A forensic engineer is coming to examine the church. Our ministers are so busy with the remodelling they certainly didn't need more to have to manage. Fortunately, nobody was injured, and we are all so grateful for that.

I know this goes into share and care, David, but I thought about it as I was writing and decided to let you all know.

The question was once asked on here what we do if there is some kind of emergency which involves the congregation. The example used was a snow storm. I had not thought about it until them, but I then put the home page into blocks of text so I could expand or contract them as I needed space. Therefore, it was easy to place the information about where we are going to hold church, time, etc. on the home page.

Carol

[David Gillaspey]

I don't think your signature is "inordinately" long, but the real person to answer that on here is David, I think. Hi Carol,

I do require that signatures not be too long, for space reasons. Also I keep an eye on the degree to which one promotes one's own for-profit enterprise. That's because Great Church Websites, which hosts this forum, is a not-for-profit organization.

I know this goes into share and care, David, but I thought about it as I was writing and decided to let you all know.The share and care area (http://www.greatchurchwebsites.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=41) of this forum, aside from being a place to "share and care," specifically is a members-only area. This is so members may feel more comfortable sharing very private info, such as they're going through a divorce and need prayer, or lost their job, etc.

As I've stated before, I allow all conversations on this forum to otherwise go where they will (that is, they can stray off-topic), as conversations in real life do, although of course I always keep a watchful eye on the forum.

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites
and forum administrator

[flutem3]

Hi, David,

I know you keep your eye on the forum. In my own way, I do too. :D You are right about conversations and how they twist and turn. It is good to allow that, I think. Otherwise, people can become stilted in their writing.

Now, if I were writing a technical manual or instructions, I would focus like a laser...well, more or less. But I am not doing that.

I think it is good that you watch for too much promotion...a little bit goes a long way. And unless you check the software/program etc. out, you don't know precisely what is being offered. I would have no idea at all, but you do. Thank you for being such a good gatekeeper!!

Carol

[JackWolfgang]

Well, I'm very curious to see if local congregations see the value in communing online. Obviously we are benefitting. So funny and interesting how communities are formed. no? Without a hint of physical representation, we congregate, leave messages for each other; the words we write and the spririt in which we convey our thoughts create concrete actions (tear in eye).

Gifford, I was trying the composition books as a step towards online community/posting. However, it didn't work.

[JackWolfgang]

PS. Can someone tell me if my signature is inordinately long?

I'd drop the phone and fax numbers for length, and I would drop the e-mail address to avoid spam (as David would say, a way to contact you should exist on your web site). However, as Carol said, David has final say. :)

[flutem3]

Hi, Jack,

David is THE MAN!!! :D And David, you do a terrific job too. Thanks!!

I think if I handed out composition books to members of our congregation, they would think I was nuts. If someone were to give one to me, I would think he/she was nuts. I guess that makes all of friends of squirrels.

Now, I happen to enjoy keeping a journal sometimes...not all the time. And I keep one of a sorts on a website called Wesley Without Walls. But I choose to do it. It is good for me to think about what I have read in the Bible and write about it. Some stuff is decent; some is dreadful.

But it is a good way to read the Bible with more focus. And it is good to write down what I think, feel, etc. I am about the only person who writes anything other than Nick who is a Methodist minister, and he set up the site. However, I write because I want to...except on the days which I don't want to. I write anyway. It is good for me. :) The last three days I have gotten completely carried away and have written "sermons."

Carol

[David Gillaspey]

Can someone tell me if my signature is inordinately long?Hi Gifford,

Signature's a little longer than I would have preferred, but you would have heard from me (privately) if I felt it needed to be changed. Your member name ("AtlanticWebfitters") is more of a concern to me, but, same deal, you would have heard from me if I wanted you to change it.

(Of course, I'm assuming you're not getting rich operating your company. I might have a different attitude otherwise. :) )

So both your signature and member name are kind of "on the edge" of what I would allow, but I haven't asked you to change either because I value your contributions to the forum. Others with content management systems to promote have made their announcement here on this forum and were not heard from again. By contrast, you've shown a willingness to give as well as receive from this forum. That's appreciated.

(Note to all ? remember when you mention me by name ? "David" ? in posts that new members to the forum won't have a clue who you're talking about. You may want to use a phrase like "David (our forum admin)" when referring to me.)

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
Forum Administrator

[David Gillaspey]

Hi, Jack,

David is THE MAN!!! :D And David, you do a terrific job too. Thanks!!Thanks, Carol!

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
Forum administrator

[AtlanticWebfitters]

Thank you David,
My goal is to help. I'm not sure how yet. Other than to be transparent. All business I conduct is in person, so I'm not really here to drum up business. I'm just seeking some sort of accountability perhaps; some validation too. I'm happy to abide.

[David Gillaspey]

Hi Gifford,

In particular, you represent the views of, and advocate for, web content management systems. (Not always, but many times.) That's why I am particularly happy to have you participating in the forum.

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[flutem3]

You are right, David-- the most famous, the best, and most underpaid forum administrator in the entire world!!! :D

Carol

[srmcatee]

Content posted back or open public comments is a great concern. I have a church I work with and they will not go there due to past content that was posted.

However, at Broadway Presbyterian (http://broadway.churchledger.com), we allow posts. But only if you are registered on the site. Many times, if someone posts hatefull stuff; they are in need of ministry. It helps to require them to register so they can be reached after the post.

Also, honest discussion is open discussion.

Just imagine if we had a blog on every article in Congress and any citizen could openly comment on it. Lots of chaos, and lots of truth.

[tmreg]

There is another huge benifit of using a blog on your church website... Search Engines. The search engines (especially google) work particularly well with some free blogging platforms (wordpress etc). When our pastor started his blog (which is on wordpress, ported to our Xoops cms) he saw almost instant results from people finding our site through secular, non church related searches. The benifit, these people stayed and looked around the site.

We sat down with him and recommended some of the things he could use the blog for and came up with a short list:
-current events
-examples of people doing the Lord's work
-supplemental material from the last weeks sermon
-interesting info he discovered preparing for the next weeks sermon
- almost anything he can think of

The benifit to having posts about a variety of subjects is that it will expand your search engine footprint and get people who are searching for that variety of subjects.

I was absolutely amazed at the speed to which we got people into the site using this software. It could be worth the effort even if no members read it regularly.

If you can ever get the blog writer to use it regularly and tell people about it (ie I will have more about this in my blog later this week....) they will read it and it will get your site readership up.


As far as the user comment concern, that can be fixed through either letting the registered users make the comments and the non registered users only read them, or opening it up for all but make the comments be approved by a webmaster before being published, or leaving it wide open and use some of the free tools for filtering them out. this has not been a huge issue for us.

[David Gillaspey]

There is another huge benifit of using a blog on your church website... Search Engines. The search engines (especially google) work particularly well with some free blogging platforms (wordpress etc). .It may not have been search engines that got people to your site so quickly. Some blogging software, e.g., blogger.com (now owned by Google), "ping" so-called "blog update notification services" such as weblogs.com, which track changes to blogs. Anyone subscribed to such a service is notified (I assume through RSS) of a new or changed blog entry.

However, your basic point -- that blogs drive people to websites -- remains very true.

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[JackWolfgang]

Content posted back or open public comments is a great concern. I have a church I work with and they will not go there due to past content that was posted.

However, at Broadway Presbyterian (http://broadway.churchledger.com), we allow posts. But only if you are registered on the site. Many times, if someone posts hatefull stuff; they are in need of ministry. It helps to require them to register so they can be reached after the post.

In Stephenson's Web-Empower Your Church book, he recommends that no one be allowed to create content (i.e. forum posts, comments) without having registered with a valid e-mail address (and he recommends trust but verify, use the forum software to send them a link with a random character string query part to verify that the e-mail address is real).

[tmreg]

I am all for ensuring that the people visiting your site are shielded from viewing a viagra ad, but I think we try too hard. The harder you make it for users to comment and interact with the site, the fewer people are going to do it. There are ways to ensure that inappropriate comments stay off your site. Easy ways. If you make it hard for people to participate, most will choose not to.

If you have your comments where they have to have moderator approval before they are displayed, it takes care of your problem. It only takes a second for a moderator to recieve an email and click approved.

I say this as my church's site requires you to be logged in to post a comment. I don't agree with it. Maybe this is why we don't have alot of success with comments.

[StubbyD]

I say this as my church's site requires you to be logged in to post a comment. I don't agree with it. Maybe this is why we don't have alot of success with comments.

I'm not a Big Brother is watching you afficianado but I am careful where and what I register and there are many, many a sites that I register at with one-shot address.

These I find are very useful, especially where I may only be logging in to get to one piece of information and never return. Why oh why do I want to forever register my real name, address, etc ....

My favourite of these type of sites are:

www.mailinator.com (http://www.mailinator.com)
www.spamgourmet.com (http://www.spamgourmet.com)
www.jetable.org (http://www.jetable.org)

However, I also use a gmail account with no connections back to me. For sure, a system admin can always get my IP address and trace me back.

Anyway - to get back to the point, unless you go through a process of locking out all these anti-spam domains then you can still have anonymous postings and as you state the only way around that is moderation.