This is a difficult post for me to write. Mainly because I’m a huge fan of branding and identity within businesses. I love the task and craft of developing an image for someone that is easily memorable, and so this post shouldn’t be received as an issue with branding as a practice, but rather as branding in the context of church, the Gospel, and Christianity in western culture.
10 Reasons You Might Be A Church Technology Junky
As technology increases, it can be hard to find any sort of daily experience that doesn’t include your lucky iPhone. It seems that society is trying to jam technology into every facet of our lives, and where once you felt safe in the car, we now see the integration of iPhone software within our touch screen dashboards.
Even the Body of Christ, it can be argued, has begun putting emphasis on their technological expertise as a form of modern communication. No doubt this has helped us spread our Gospel message in unprecedented ways, but it might be worth considering that maybe our new forms of outreach have also become a quagmire of gadget-dependance.
While it may be impossible, and likely unreasonable, to remove ourselves from the digital age altogether, it’s worth asking ourselves if we have become slaves to this lifestyle of being a “tech junky”.
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Hello Bar for Church Websites
What’s the single most important thing you want visitors to see on your church website?
Often, there might be a specific announcement you’d like to draw attention to. For instance, if there’s a major fundraising event, or perhaps a concert coming up, you want visitors to be instantly aware of it when they land on your site.
Of course, you could change the front page, but you also want new visitors to see whatever main content you have their. Also, changing the front page every time something happens is a pain. And what if someone lands on an interior page?
Say, “Hello” to Hello Bar.
The Social Church: A Theology of Digital Communication [GIVEAWAY]
Stories are timeless. Whether passed along to the next generation by an oral tradition or the written word, stories permeate millennia. The stories we care about most are part of our story. Family background, origins of faith, cultural milestones, who was where at major moments in history.
Stories matter because people matter. We long for a sense of connectedness and community. We are social creatures. Across oceans and across time, stories tie us together.
With the advancement of technology the world has grown smaller. Mankind’s reach extends around the globe. Story keeps us connected. How we communicate that story progresses with technology.
Moses had stone tablets, the disciples had scrolls, and Luther had the printing press. We have social media.
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3 Questions to Ask When Building a Church Website
I just recently finished switching out my church’s website from Joomla to WordPress. (For more on how we came to this decision, check this post.) We built out site using ChurchTheme.com’s Resurrect theme, which has been specifically designed for churches, and it is awesome.
Anyway, in this process, I’ve been forced to ask some fairly heavy philosophical questions that really cut to the heart of what I was a doing. Yes, I was just building a website, but a website for a church should be a digital representation of what your church believes, teaches, and does. It should be a way for prospective attenders to meet your pastor and “tour” your church before ever arriving.
Long story short, here are those three questions and why I feel like they were important.
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What About Online Christmas Services?
While the United Methodist Church has declared a moratorium on online church service communion, Liquid Church is embracing online church to the fullest this holiday season,
While the Christmas holiday can bring big numbers to local churches, the same can be said for online attendance. Just as local churches are preparing for an increase in attendance and special services, the same is being done for online church.
This is one reason why Liquid Church will be hosting a communion service online, as they have been streaming over 500 Christmas sermons this year after seeing huge growth since they started back in 2007.
Is your church doing anything special for their online Christmas service?