Cyber Congregations Go Fishing on the Net

By Andrew Careaga

Truepath-- www.truepath.com

Many churches experience a clash of cultures that often occurs when traditional Christian groups--whether denominations, parachurch ministries or local congregations--enter the realm of cyberspace. The top-down communication structures that have worked so well for so long for modern churches just don't cut it in the fluid, anarchic on-line world. On the Net, communication is two-way and immediate, often anonymous and free-wheeling. Freedom of expression is one of the on-line world's most cherished values, and no idea or ideology goes unchallenged in cyberspace.

Cyber-seekers

Yet thousands of seekers log on daily in search of spiritual meaning. On-line churches like Totalechurch.com draw more than 1,000 Internet surfers a week with sermons, daily devotions, fellowship chat rooms and electronic Bible studies--all available at the click of the mouse button. About 70 percent of Totalechurch's 1,000-plus "congregants" don't regularly attend a physical church, according to a recent report. They apparently think they're getting all they need by logging on to the global computer network.

Of course, they are missing something of great value: the face-to-face fellowship many Christians find through regular church attendance. But churches that ignore the impact of this on-line community of millions are also missing something of great value. They miss the opportunity to minister to people who might never enter a church or listen to a radio sermon, but who will eagerly discuss matters of faith in a chat room or download a sermon from the Web.

Log on

How can the church address the spiritual hunger of these many cyber-seekers? First, it must establish a presence in this on-line world. According to a recent report from The Standard, the World Wide Web is growing by two million new pages each day. With such phenomenal growth, a church that is not on the Net is at a big disadvantage when it comes to relating to our cyber-savvy culture. A church without a Web presence in today's world is as unthinkable as a church without a Yellow Pages listing was a decade ago. For as little as $15 to $30 a month, a church can get Web hosting from a local Internet service provider. For another $35 a year, it can register an easy-to-remember domain name. (For example, Rock Harbor Church of Costa Mesa, Calif. has its own domain name, www.rockharbor.org.) Churches can also get limited Web space for free from any of a variety of host servers that make their money from advertisers. (The church I attend, Salem Faith Assembly Church in Salem, Mo. uses Truepath--www.truepath.com--for our Web site.)

Maximize your reach

Even if your church is on-line, you're probably not realizing the Internet's full potential for on-line ministry. Too many church Web sites are little more than billboards on the Information Superhighway. Such sites list a church's name, address, phone number, schedule of services and e-mail address(es) but say nothing about its culture or offer anything of value to the cyber-seeker.

Effective church Web sites are able to connect with an on-line audience whose attention span is measured in nanoseconds, so it's important to communicate quickly, both visually and verbally. Whether your church is large--like the 5,000-member First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens, NJ--or smaller, like Grace Community Church of Savoy, Ill. (about 200 members), the first impression is what matters on the Web.

For the Lincoln Gardens church (fbcsomerset.com), a fast- loading front page provides on-line seekers--and cyber-savvy church members--with ready access to on-line sermons, a calendar of events, information about the church's ministry, and even a way to submit prayer requests. Grace Community's site (findinggrace.com) begins with a "splash page"--sort of a virtual welcome mat--but the page beyond that provides similar information. Both sites are well designed, intended to reach on-line seekers as well as church members.

"We wanted something that looked sharp enough that someone would actually look around even if they weren't already a Christian," says Bill Glick, Grace Community Church's volunteer Web developer.

Both the Grace and First Baptist sites strive to convey their church's culture through their Web sites. First Baptist's site conveys personal attention in a mega-church setting--"We are a large church, but there is only one you," the tag line on its home page reads. Meanwhile, Grace--a Willow Creek Association church--emphasizes a seeker-friendly atmosphere with this statement: "Grace is a new kind of church focused on finding... finding your way on your spiritual journey. Finding hope."

Cyber congregations

The most effectively networked churches today are moving into this realm of "cyber congregations"--connecting on-line with believers regardless of geographical boundaries, and reaching out to non-believers with the message of hope and salvation.

Every church should have a "cyberspace ministry team" to lead it in developing a presence on the Internet. This cyberteam also should help other church leaders--and the congregation as a whole--to understand the importance of this new medium. To really click with cyber-culture, this team should include people with various areas of expertise: graphic artists, Web designers, writers and techies. Don't be surprised if many of these "ministers of cyberspace" are teenagers. Remember, they're the natives in this culture, having grown up with computers; the rest of us are immigrants.

The on-line ministry should be plugged in to your church leadership because its members will handle situations that link the Internet world with your ministry. On-line prayer requests, for example, should be forwarded on to intercessory prayer groups, and the fruits of on-line "e-vangelism" may require follow-up counseling from the pastoral ministry.

So what should your cyberspace ministry team do? The possibilities are as limitless as the Web itself. But here are some ideas to help you start thinking about cyber ministry:

• Build community. If one of the goals of the church is to create community, then the Internet is one very adaptable means toward that goal. Its interactive elements actually draw people together in a way print, broadcast and other media cannot. Even without a lot of technical know-how, churches and ministries can establish on-line "communities"--focused on discussion forums and chat rooms--for various groups. Such communities provide church members and others with a safe, non-threatening environment for interactive, two-way communication. One church that has been successful in creating on-line community among its membership is Ginghamsburg Church in Tipp City, Ohio (www.ginghamsburg.org). Church leaders there have developed on-line communities for teens, pre-teens, college students, parents, prayer partners, singles and others. Another Web community, Soulocity.com (www.soulocity.com), a ministry of First Presbyterian Church of Orlando, Fla. uses the Internet as a tool "to feed our souls in a world that is speeding past at a high velocity." According to the ministry's Web site, Soulocity's 75 registered members stay in touch via the site's bulletin board because they "want more contact with each other than is possible in face-to-face meetings at the church property."
• On-line sermons. One of the easiest ways to transform your Internet site from a static billboard to a site with "takeaway value" (the term Quentin J. Schultze uses in his book Internet for Christians) is to regularly post sermons, devotionals, and other resources for your on-line audience. These can be everything from text sermon outlines to full-blown video presentations. Again, Ginghamsburg Church is a leader in developing on-line sermons. Many of Ginghamburg's archived sermons incorporate text, still graphics and video to provide a multimedia worship experience on-line. Other well-done Internet sermons and Bible studies can be found at Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa, Calif. (www.rockharbor.org); Bethany Christian Assembly of Everett, Wash. (www.bca-on-line.com); and the postmodern Waves Church in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada (www.waves.ca).
• Preaching visually. The Internet is a visual medium, so sometimes the most effective virtual sermons are visual sermons. Heartlight (www.heartlight.org), an on-line magazine and outreach of Westover Hills Church of Christ in Austin, Texas (www.westover.org), offers animated on-line "movies" called Dynimations (on-line at www.heartlight.org/dynimation/), which may be downloaded for free and incorporated into other church Web sites. These Dynimations, which are designed for Macromedia Flash, Microsoft PowerPoint and Quicktime movie formats, include a presentation on true love based on 1 Corinthians 13, a superb retelling of the Genesis 1 creation account, and a humorous look at the Proverbs 31 virtuous woman.
• Sunday Morning Live! Some churches have decided to go live with their on-line sermons. One such congregation, Frazer Memorial United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Ala. (www.frazerumc.org), not only provides live virtual worship but an on-line archive of past sermons. Cyber worshipers need only the latest free version of RealPlayer (www.real.com) to view the sermons.
• Virtual Bible study. Every Wednesday night, members of Lakeside Church in Folsom, Calif. log on for an on-line Bible study. This extension of the church's TLC small groups ministry is called eTLC, and is yet another example of broadening the church community into the realm of the virtual world. Other congregations, such as Bay Life Community Church in Sarasota, Fla. connect visitors to the church's Web site (www.baylifecommunity.com) with a wealth of Internet Bible study resources collected from other Web sites. (To access the church's collection of links, visit the "Spiritual Resources" section of Bay Life's Web site.)
• Connect with the culture. Through its Web site (www.rfc-home.org), Redeemed Family Church of San Antonio, Texas connects visitors to movie reviews from a Christian perspective. The reviews are from an external site, the Christian Answers Network's Christian Spotlight on the Movies (www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/home.html). Nevertheless, this link helps the congregation's cyber-savvy connect with popular culture.
• E-vangelize. If evangelism is one of the church's primary missions, then we should be involved in sharing the gospel in cyberspace as well as in our neighborhoods and "real" communities. Many churches have created on-line witnessing teams that venture into chat rooms or on-line forums to share the gospel. But before sending budding "e-vangelists" out into cyberspace, it's important to give them some general guidelines. Four members of the Web site team at Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, Calif. (pbc.org), have created an excellent guide to on-line witnessing, called "Christian Internet Apologetics" (pbc.org/cspace.html). On this Web site, the authors discuss Netiquette, e-mail apologetics, and witnessing via Web guestbooks, as well as the more philosophical and theological aspects of sharing the faith on-line. For churches that wish to have an evangelistic presence in cyberspace, the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention has created a visually creative evangelistic gospel presentation that is adapted specifically for the Web. The presentation is available free to any church of any denomination that wishes to use it. Simply download the file from the NAMB Web site (namb.net/evangelismkit/default.htm). To see this flashy Flash presentation in action, visit the Media4God site (media4god.com/evangelism/intro.htm).

Scratching the virtual surface

These are just a few ideas on how a church can extend itself into the virtual world. As I said earlier, the opportunities are limitless. To make an impact for God in cyberspace, we must allow ourselves to dream big.

Tony Whitaker, with SOON Gospel Literature in the United Kingdom (www.soon.org.uk) and editor of the monthly on-line newsletter Web Evangelism Bulletin, is one such dreamer. He envisions churches of all sizes banding together in communities to create single Web sites--community-wide "portals" similar to Christian supersites like Crosswalk.com (www.crosswalk.com) or the Gospel Communications Network (www.gospelcom.net).

"Each church could have its own section and independently updated information, but each would work to a common, agreed-upon format and template," Whitaker says. Such sites "would send the message to the general public, who couldn't care less about our minor doctrinal differences, that we are actually proclaiming the same message and are not in competition," he adds.

The Internet provides the church with an opportunity for just such unity, on a global scale.

Andrew Careaga, a volunteer youth minister in Missouri, is the author of E-vangelism: Sharing the Gospel in Cyberspace (1999, Vital Issues Press) and writes frequently about Christianity and the Internet. His new book, eMinistry: Connecting with the Net Generation, will be published in early 2001 by Kregel Publications.