Web Site Functions

When I first titled this story/article,  the "functions" I had in mind were the "limited set" or "usual set" of functions that are often associated with Church Website "basics":  information about the Church and basic schedule, personell,  mission statement, etc. (brochure information).  Most Churches begin by transferring most of their brochure information onto a Webpage.  Some add a calendar,  which usually ends up displaying a long-past set of events,  and long-past sermons if any ----- very few are posting sermons,  which I think is oo bad becuase often it is one way to reflect something of the content of the sermons,  which is one "yardstick" people use to evaluate what the Church may offer to them as a source of challenge and or inspiration on a week to week basis.

Beyond this basic starting place,  the programs of the Church.  organized in some basic outline kind of fashion (ie. Schedule, Staff, Mission, Ministries, Education, Membership etc. is a typical navigational structure.    Many provide a basic description of each of these sections and any sub-sections which describe the various entries under those areas (like under Ministries,  a description of an after-school tutoring program the Church provides).

As these basic descriptions are filled out,  there are ways in which a Church can extend the use and function of these pages beyond the typical "Brochure-ware" function they often provide.   By providing ways to add journal-like entries that are tied to these ministries,  or any particular events,  people can write little "this was great because........" notes that serve as personal "ads" for that ministry by telling a story of how a particular experience in or from a particular ministry has helped them or inspired them.    Calendars can provide the same links to "reactions/comments" about them.

Online forums can also be set up to deal with any kind of discussion at all.  My first experience with "opening" a new forum for the Church was met with some alarm by some,  who saw it as "airing dirty laundry";  but the fact was that the opening topic wa simply the topic on the table for nearly everybody that was at the service on that first Sunday follwing Sept. 11.   There were accusations that this was not taken to the staff,  but they already had been ,  by several persons,  and the topic was the subject of conversation in several "huddles" of people not only that morning,  but for weeks.  Everybody who had an email address and was on the list Lauren had received an invitation to join in the discussion,  and anybody was instantly authorized to open a thread on any subject they desired. 

This initial impression perhaps soured somem to the idea of Online Forums as tools for community building.  For me,  their tone was no different,  and largely evn more pozsitive than the face to face discussions that were called on a couple of occasions within the following month.  Some protested that the debate did not belong online,  but we made no such "private" demand on the public concerning the "sharing sessions" we held.  Non-members were not excluded.  I don't think any came (to my knowledge) but we would not have prevented them from doing so.  The Website forum, however,  was sent only to members on the list.  Website visitors could have clicked the "Dialogue" Link and seen the conversations,  but that is simply the online version of the issue as it was made available face to face.  Further,  online,  thoughts and opinions can be slowly formed and uploaded when ready and carefully considered.  This does not always happen,  and people write things they don't mean,  but not nearly as often as they SAY things they don't mean,  especially in the often initimidating socail moments when someone disagrees with us in public. 

It is a NEW reality, to be sure,  but one with tremendous and for us,  humbling implicatons.  "Humbling",  because we MUST realize that we are NOT going to resist the movement of people into online interaction,  and it is happening at a staggering rate of increase,  especially among the ones who have "Grown Up Digital".  We MUST learn to learn to relate to each other in an online world.  We will still post things that may offend,  but we do so in ftf as well ---- face to face we learn how to and how NOT to live with one another.  In BOTH places we must learn to practice the art of listening and of showing that we are listening.  Non-verbal cues can both help and hinder,  just as the absence of such can both help and hinder.  For me,  as I have told scores of people in face to face conversation,  I feel much more confident with expressing the whole of what I'm thinking in writing,  but as I move back into face to face contexts after relating something of myself online,  and have received feedback from people who express to me a sense that they have gotten to know me better,  or learned something about me they never knew, I am made a more confident face to face person,  which in turn helps my writing.  It is a complex social and psychological (and spiritual) pattern, one which I am still and always on a journey of discovery and learning. 

Having said all these things about the potential power of online relating and communicating,  the importance of linking these online conversations rises greatly.  Conversations can be linked to pages about ministries that deal with those topics.  They can linkdirectly to the Event Calendar as testimony (as mentioned above),  or they can simply be the seeds which lead to the first germinations of a new ministry.  They can provide an ONLINE EXTENSION to conversations that happen in face to face groups,  to allow small group members to continue sharing things around the topics and happenings in their face to  face groups,  and be "secured" through the use of logins and passwords to limit the posting or reading of messages ,  or both,  according to actual group membership.

These types of linking to related events requires the use of a database in order to categorize events and ministries under certain "areas" and "subjects" so that events and ministries of related types can list each other,  provide ways to link to things posted by other members or staff on related subjects,  and thus create a system which can notify people of happenings or events they might have missed hearing about and allow them to attend,  or by simply providing a way of reporting to the church what the outcome was,  and so serve as a "testimonial: for future similar events.

Web site design seems to me to be a very important aspect of the overall effectiveness of a Church's site as well.  It plays the same sort of role as the Church Building does for the Church Community.  It gives a sense of "place" which exists alongside of as "context" or surroundings for the events and people to which it functions as host.  As graphic designers for ad agaencies know,  the message is often "influenced" by the "images" that surround it.   Web graphics act as "graphic layout" for the message and intended communication of the webpage. 

I have to say that the previous pastor gave it a good shot,  and even invited me to a meeting he had with someone else about plans/dreams for the Church and technology in the immediate future. He also met with me a couple of times to "sketch out" some ideas as to what to include on the Church's website.  I think that between what I envisioned,  and what time I had to work on building what we had talked about, and the amount of time it took me to fianlly get around to building it (much of which finally got started when I learned how to do some key things with databases and web pages),  it had become something that got "set aside" as other things vied for attention.  I felt like I had neglected my task,  something which I had both suggested we do and volunteered my services to do.

It seems to me that the plans and development for our Church Website has never progressed in the past year to 18 months because of a disconnect that exists between what motivates me to begin the arduous process of development and deployment of new features,  and the older static, print-oriented notions we have of written content.   The vast majority of people view the web as online commerce and factual research,  therefore the task of a website is seen as being informational in nature.   That is an important feature,  but hardly one that suffices acording to the expectations of a growing Web-savvy audience.  

A new generation of digitally-literate young people have reached young adulthood and are more at home with ideas of virtual community and online relationships.  In 1999,  a book called "Growing Up Digital" revealed some fascinating studies about this group who have grown up accustomed to digital technology and are naturally conversant with it.  The amount of television watching is decreasing as children learn to type and write and interact rather than sit as passive observer,  and interactive literacy is changing the way and contexts in which children learn.

The existence of weblogs has grown from some 50,000 in 2001 to over 500,000 in this past year.   Many people account for this dramatic rise as the result of Sept.11,  and the numbers of  people who wrote about their experiences and reactions.   As this weblog phenomenon grew,  more took notice and saw an avenue of expression which encouraged more and more to begin revealing things about who they were,  and they found that the accessibility to related subjects and interests being expressed enabled them to write about the things that other people were writing about,  and so ad-hoc communities of interest emerged. 

Church Web Site Visions    

© Copyright 2003 Dale Lature. Last update: 9/23/2003; 3:35:51 PM.