Part 7 in a continuing series on What Web 2.0 Means for Your Church
Much of our discussion of web 2.0 sites has focused on mainstream sites intended for a mainstream audience and how those general use sites could be used by churches. But there’s also a growing collection of Christian web 2.0 sites with obvious applications for churches.
We’ll take a quick look at three of them, though there are plenty more out there. CMS Guest Blogger Tim Bednar has a semi-difinitive list of church web 2.0 projects going.
CrossConnector
More in line with a 37signals web-based software project, CrossConnector allows ministries and churches to track projects and activities online. You can post messages, communicate with your team, track events and more. The basic version is free but you can only track one project. The subscription plans run from $3-24 per month.
I set up a quick and unofficial page for my church to see how it worked. It’s an interesting mix of project organizer and a public blog or web site. It would be especially useful for long distance projects like missions trips or churches that need to get lay people communicating about activities and projects.
People2Pray
If you’ve ever complained about the smut and garbage that can happen on community-driven sites like MySpace, then People2Pray is the answer to what good is all this online community. It’s a place to post and share prayer requests. Of course there’s nothing to stop smut and garbage from appearing here either, except maybe the tendencies of the audience.
People2Pray lets you post requests, share them with friends, let others know you’re praying and more. The obvious application for churches is to set up a community for your church and encourage the swapping of requests. The only downside is that you have to register to dive in and check it out. No window shopping.
People2Pray is a goodwill project with no ads and no fees, though they do accept donations.
eBible.com
Basically it’s a Bible search engine, much like the famed Bible Gateway, though eBible has great little features like an in-text commentary, a Bible answers section and the ability to view translations side by side. They’re still doing testing so you’ll need to sign up for an invitation. Once you get in it’s a pretty slick system, though you can tell they’re still adding features (they only have five translations). They’re also supported by advertising which is pretty unobtrusive, but a little bizarre at first.
Of course eBible doesn’t have immediate communication applications for churches–it’s simply a tool you can use to study the Bible.
Ryan Heneise
May 2, 2006
Thanks for mentioning CrossConnector! We’ve had a wonderful response so far, and some really neat organizations are using CrossConnector to organize their missions.
Oh, and both People2Pray and eBible are awesome apps – go check them out!
Jimw
May 10, 2006
Hello, Can I have a invite to eBible please? Thanks.
Daniel
May 10, 2006
Hiya!
Can I have a invite to eBible please? Thanks. Daniel
don
May 10, 2006
May I have a invite to eBible? Thanks, Don
Yannick
May 14, 2006
Those are all great applications. You can also check out Missionaries.in.
Center for Church Communication
May 19, 2006
Church Marketing Sucks Web 2.0 Series
Web 2.0 is yet another techno buzz term that’s popping up everywhere. Our Church Marketing Sucks blog just finished a series exploring web 2.0, sorting out the hype and figuring out what it means for churches: What Web 2.0 Means…
Tim
September 6, 2006
I’d like an eBible invite, too, if there are any left.
Andy Rowell
September 6, 2006
My list of great Bible study tools on the web is at The Best Bible Study Tools on the Web
Your readers should know that Biblegateway.com is better than ever. They now have the TNIV (2005), ESV (2001), NLT (2004), NASB (1995), HCSB (2003), The Message (2002), CEV (1995), and the NIrV (1998). You can look up five versions of a passage at a time and view them side by side.
Kevin
September 7, 2006
Hey Tim, and anyone else wanting invites–looks like eBible.com is no longer in beta and anyone can sign up. No invites required.
Toby James
March 7, 2007
Hey, nice list, and the folks over at 9rules have a few more. Check out these additions: http://9rules.com/religion/notes/451/
Max Powers
May 13, 2013
http://www.HolyBibleVerse.com is an online Holy Bible search engine with many ways to view (or compare), listen (MP3) or search by verses/chapters/books.