Many of you probably already know who Cynthia Ware is, and if you don’t, well, now you know!
She’s been “around” for a while and it’s always been a pleasure to read her blog and some of the stuff that she finds around the interwebs.
I’ve recently had the pleasure of sitting down with her to help her scope out where she wants to go next, so stay tuned… she’s definitely going somewhere!
I think it’ll be big.
Name:
Cynthia Ware
Blog / Websites:
Time Bandits or Favorite Websites:
http://twitter.com
http://google.com/reader
http://facebook.com
http://youversion.com
http://wikipedia.com
http://churchrelevance.com
http://churchmarketingsucks.com
Whatcha Working On?
Right now I’m concentrating of finishing several writing projects that are currently in the works. I’m also consulting a handful of churches about their web-based ministry philosophies and practices. Lastly, I’ve got a set of speaking engagements over the next year – all focused on exploring or emphasizing the importance of participatory media values and their impact on traditional communication models within the Church.
How do you see Web Technology impacting the Kingdom?
I’m keenly aware of the digital divide within western churches. Meaning, there are churches who use online technologies aggressively and understand their significance, current capabilities and future potential. They are investing money, time and people in online ministry opportunities.
But on the other hand, there are those who shun, resist or hold in suspicion the new communication opportunities and many of these pastors and leaders have a complete failure to understand the internet and its Kingdom value. Unlike the “men of Issachar” they don’t understand the times we live in and are unable to help the Church lead. They are unable to anticipate how to translate the Kingdom for the iGeneration.
These are the leaders who may not understand that almost all the visitors to their church within the next year will stop at the church website before they make a choice to come to a service or function. These leaders don’t want to invest in a good professional page because they don’t realize its significance in the life of their congregation. If they don’t understand that, they certainly can’t be expected to anticipate how to conduct ministry endeavor from their online spaces.
It’s this group of leaders who I feel could use the most support in having careful, simple, practical explanations for why online ministry will increase dramatically in its importance over the next years.
And here I never knew about this site. Very cool, and quite similar to my own. I'll be keeping an eye in that's for sure now.
As for leaders and New Media leadership, folks need to understand the scope of and the implications of technology before being successful in leading it. There are a lot of churches which might get the high-level view of social media, etc., but I would argue that its a younger and more adept user group of Christ-followers who better understand its scope and can teach more effectively its implications.
Leaders who are hybrids might be better to bridge the gap in the respect that they had a foot in non-social and social tech. They cannot stay at the front for long, as they will have too much legacy "stuff" with them in order to lead effectively those who had none of that legacy to begin with.
Sweet! Tell me more about mobileministry…….!
Simply put, Mobile Ministry Magazine, or MMM for short, is a website which explores, instructs, and points the ways to respond to our lives at the intersection of faith and mobile technology. Moreso than any other media, mobile devices have had greater penetration rates, more personal connections, and more overall implications to aspects of our lives than its media forerunner, the Internet. For that reason, MMM picks and prods, considers and guesses, and when given enough facts, we direct and lead the Body into creating a foundation of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding that will not only help folks make sense out of what is going on now, but also arrive at future destinations with the Body as a caretaker and innovator in this space and beyond.
oh, sweet! thanks for that!
Great post. Loved the part about "almost all the visitors to their church within the next year will stop at the church website before" good food for thought and backup for some board meetings in the near future.
Getting better, a lot of projects, Merlin Mann and Church Crunch are my anchorsSent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
From: IntenseDebate Notifications
merlin is the mann.