Blogging isn’t just a hip new trend for techies and information junkies. Businesses are jumping on the blog bandwagon.
Blog software itself enables a non-technical person to post uniform content on a web site and have it be easily categorized and archived, all without calling in the web expert. A blog doesn’t have to simply comment on the latest news. Weekly announcements, sermons, prayer requests, and daily scripture are all uniform content that would be ideal for a blog. A blog is really just a technical tool that makes updating a web site simple.
Maybe your church should jump on the blog bandwagon.
Lake Neuron Bait Shop
October 5, 2004
A few years ago, I was updating our church web site after it had been allowed to get really, badly out of date. My idea was to do a rather generic site, on the theory that it was less embarassing to have too little information than to have out-of-date information, and I personally didn’t have time to do the calendar each week. But our pastor at the time kept asking about a way to put current activities on the site.
So I tried setting up a blog, where all of our various department heads would have access to post their activities and announcements. Unfortunately, after a few experimental posts, everyone lost interest, and now the announcement blog is nearly empty.
In our case, I think the problem is not knowing who the market is for our web site. Most of our active members aren’t yet interested in using the web to keep up with the church calendar, so our web site is primarily a brochure for potential visitors.
Eric
October 6, 2004
Our church website is 200+ pages, gets 500 page views daily and is updated regularly, sometimes multiple times each day. The staff, and the pastor in particular, say they love the website and are continually referring people to it.
The problem is that there’s only one person to update it; anything new has to go through him. (“Him” is, of course, a euphemism for “me.”)
A blog application would help to solve this potential bottleneck. But it would also shift some of the responsibility back to the staff, who already feels overburdened with duties.
Perceptive folks that they are, my past suggestions to consider a blog format for at least some of the content have gone unheeded.
Messy Christian
October 19, 2004
Hi there. My church has a community blog where members of the church post thoughts etc. It’s at http://thefathershouse.blogspot.com
It’s been really successful, however only a few of the church members participate …
our church is a relatively tech-savvy church with some of its members having blogs of their own. A few times we’ve tried an online community but they never usually take off. The blog has been the most successful. I think the key to the success is the fact that a) many members are Internet savvy b) it’s a small church.
matt blowers
January 6, 2006
I like the idea of posting announcements on a blog. That would make it very easy to make changes without having to republish my page all the time.
stuart taylor
March 8, 2006
i dont see it as a bandwagon. I think its here to stay.
I liked what i read in this releated article: http://bolsinger.blogs.com/weblog/2005/01/blog_for_christ.html
Stuart.
Baptist Church Web Site Guru
January 24, 2007
I think blogs are important for members. It will help post and share what God is doing in theri heart. Sometimes others need to hear people have the same opinions or have been touched in a deep profound way. Blogs are very healthy to church websites!
Lisa
April 14, 2007
A Church blog creates a community and lets people know about upcoming events like a picnic, a charity drive, or even a Church Singles club where people can meet & find a connection.
Fre'e Church eBook
October 17, 2007
Yes!
101 Ways to make a difference!
Ted
b
October 22, 2007
Jesus was really a drug pusher. That’s why he had so many people following him around. They only used the words fish and bread on the mount when they really were terms for some types of hallucinagins.
Jesus was king pin.
David
February 14, 2008
Blogging here to stay…just like offering envelopes and donation baskets, it’s here to stay. I hope churches in general capitalize off this so that events are posted and heated conversations and debates are had.
Angus Galloway
March 3, 2008
Churches are aplaces where peoples come to do fings and I like to drink the blud of jesus and eat the wrinkly mans bread.
ChrisJ
April 3, 2008
Have to agree with your point, David; it’s been getting on for 4 years since this post was written and blogs are an even bigger part of the internet than ever before. Using the internet to spread the Word and allow a wider audience access to what your church (any church) has to see is fantastic – I don’t think it’ll be too long before special collection envelopes having blog URL’s written on them.
kevin
April 21, 2008
I keep getting comments from people that my company’s online presentation tool (www.simonshows.com)would be great for churches to use to reach new audiences. Our tool was designed for non-technical users and allows them to compile text, photos, video, audio, etc into organized web-accessed presentations.
I have spoken with a few churches but they haven’t used it yet but I figured I would mention it if anyone is interested. Its free, you can create a channel just for your church and build as many “Shows” as you want.
Hope it helps!
Walter Sajdak
May 24, 2008
For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Walter Sajdak. I am a Police Officer for the best Police Department in the State of Florida. I am not a nutrition expert by any stretch of the imagination. I am a part of the Community Policing Unit because I like to get out of my Police Car and talk to people. I had heard of Mona Vie from some people form my wife’s work, but I didn’t think it was for me. Plus, I have 3 kids that constantly need money for school, sports, movies, boyfriends, girlfriends and a wife that likes to shop. Then one day I get a call from an old friend that I used to work with at North Bay Village. He too was a Police Officer that started his own Landscaping Business and became very successful and quit the Department. He started to tell me about Mona Vie, I told him I heard about it already and I don’t believe it. He said “trust me; this is going to be the best decision you will ever make”. Right there, I new if he told me to do it I should do it. I signed up just on his word, and I’m glad I did. After a couple of days my first shipment arrived, I wasn’t sure what to do. So I gave away all 8 bottles to my friends to see if they noticed any changes. At first I started to hear people where sleeping better, then I heard they felt more energy, but what convinced me was when my mother called me and told me her Rheumatoid arthritis pain is not as bad as it used to be. She told me she needed more because she ran out, and she doesn’t want to feel that way again. After hearing from my mother, I ordered 12 cases on bulk order, because I wanted to give everyone one I know a bottle, and it felt better giving away a bottle at $20 dollars a bottle than $32 dollars a bottle. Now it really got exciting, I started signing my friends up and they started signing their friends up and after 4 months now, I’m a Gold Executive in the Mona Vie Business. My health has also improved, I’ve lost 30 pounds, my cholesterol has dropped from over 400 to 180, and I sleep like a baby. I am having so much fun, feeling so much healthier and starting to make a lot of money with Mona vie, I have created a new email address and website to better help with the business. The new email address is thejuiceworks@gmail.com. I also have a WEBSITE it is……….. http://www.mymonavie.com/thejuiceworks
Please do me the favor and forward this email and link to all of your friends.
Call me if you have any questions.
Ofc. Walter Sajdak
City of North Bay Village
Community Policing/Bike Patrol
Keith
September 3, 2008
Very True about blogging being one of the most effective ways of communicating online. I hope to empower people to do this, if they have a desire!
chaudhary
September 19, 2008
very cool information about churchs. i hope mankind should get the maximum benefit.
Tim
October 1, 2008
I am encouraged by churches that use blogs. I recently searched for a new church, and was most impressed by those churches whose staff blogged frequently. This gives you more insight into the church than the generic website. It can really let you know a lot more about the pastor’s thoughts, convictions, and methodology.
Warren Reynolds
October 6, 2008
Anything that promotes a church, should be used. Website blogs are a great idea for churches to expand to another medium. Take for example a site like ChurchTag.com. This site allows users to generate content on the church blog.
Christopher B. Kubler
January 10, 2009
Well it’s four + years since you made this post, and it seems churches haven’t really jumped on the blog bandwagon. Your web site in fact, is #2 when searching for “church blog”!
Miko
April 17, 2009
Issues I have with the American Church Today, and Solutions
Pastors in the American Church (from here on I will refer to the American Church as “the church”) today focus on paying the bills of the church and keeping on the lights. From a personal stand-point they focus on paying their own mortgage or rent, car-payment etc…. It is very difficult to focus on helping people and doing the work of the Lord when your focus is on these things. The model being used today forces a pastor to choose who he will give his time and energy to based on money. Jesus did not decide who he would take under his wings or who he would heal based on how much money they made. He was never beholden to anyone based on money. The disciples were mostly fishermen and common people. He never focused on buildings and making rooms big enough to hold large crowds. Jesus created a movement that was not held in large buildings. He spoke on hill tops, in public areas of the synagogues. Anywhere he could speak. When he was done, the crowd would disperse and hopefully, put into practice what He was preaching.
The buildings are not the problem it’s the focus on them and the necessity to grab as many people as possible that have money to fund the buildings. Then the pastor becomes shackled by the views and agendas of those with money and the sick and the poor as a focus is lost as an afterthought. It’s like the bills need to be paid before what the Lord viewed as the most important thing, attending to the poor and needy, ever happen. It becomes clouded. Of course, getting together to sing psalms and praises, and to hear the word and be encouraged is extremely important. Worship of our Lord and savior is utmost. What the Church has forgotten is that helping the sick and poor IS worship to God. Not just singing hymns. So the church gets together in their comfortable buildings to “worship” God through singing and prayer but forget these other extremely important forms of worship because they’re so focused on making the building where all those people come, comfortable and entertaining for the observer. There is such a focus on big buildings filled with lights and cameras and musical instruments. Big stages etc… All this requires exorbitant amounts of money and energy. Jesus healed the sick fed the hungry etc…and later did these same things through His disciples using very few resources other than the power of His Father. He created and started this movement with very little in the area of money and other amenities. Just a whole lot of prayer and fasting. His disciples and the apostles did the same things with the same means.
The Church today has become like a large corporation doing the same things that corporations in the world do. Borrowing money from banks, getting investors and really, running church like a business. There has become very little need for God. There is no need to ask God for help in areas like finance because we have the bank at our disposal, we can always borrow more money. Maybe this credit crisis is a good thing. With the ability to solve our own problems, God rarely ever gets asked to help and the great miracles of the bible are seldom seen in this country. Lack of faith is fostered and this false teaching, working hard and trusting in ourselves to fix our problems, gets perpetuated. This is the world we now live in.
I’m not saying that it is wrong for pastors to receive a salary from parishioners. I just think it’s become too rampant and that those following the Paul model for his life have become extremely rare. Pastors on the most part have fallen into the money trap. The focus has become turning people into “bubble Christians” meaning, those who will come to the building at least every Sunday, will pay their tithe, and will do everything “Christian”, listen to “Christian” music, go to “Christian” meeting clubs etc… in order to keep the building, the pastor, and the programs funded. It takes Christians out of the world, and turns them into scared paranoid robot-like people who close themselves off from the world and become ineffective at reaching the hurting and lost because most people in the world are looking for something real. They are not looking for brainless cookie cutter answers for life, nor are they interested in funding an organization which focuses on paying off mortgages for buildings it can’t afford or helping line the pockets of preachers who don‘t really seem to care about them, as much as they say they do. They don’t want to be a number in an agenda to become “the biggest church on the block”. They know that Jesus came to help the sick and hurting, something they don’t see the church at large doing as much as they talk about it. They want to be part of something that will help them on a tangible level. The Lord called us to be in the world meaning to be salt in the world, not to retreat to our buildings and become ineffective at helping real people with real problems. If more pastors chose the Paul model, I think it would help curb some of these issues. We would start to see more miracles because there would be more reliance on God.
My biggest issue with the Church, and I believe all the aforementioned points all propagate this very large problem, is it’s seemingly watered down effectiveness at influencing the world. The church is no longer the kind of force in America that it once was. We have retreated to our buildings and have started focusing on all the things that I discussed. This needs to change in order to see our society influenced powerfully once again by God through the church, God will do what He has to do to accomplish this. There is a coming judgment for us if we do not get in line with the Lord’s plan. Persecution is a great way to separate the wheat from the chaff. Foreign missionaries will start to influence us. People from countries like China and places in Asia and Africa, where people still rely on the power of God and believe in His miracles and ability to solve people’s problems, will start to challenge American Christianity. We must heed the voice of the Lord, He’s calling and He wants to dine with us. He wants to show us His power. He wants to heal our sick and dieing. He wants to destroy the misnomer that miracles are not for today. He wants us to break free from the chains of religiosity and our agenda for the church so we can see His power and glory come down. He wants to blow our minds. Will we allow Him to work through us or will we continue to live in the dark?
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May 15, 2009
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Ares Vista
May 26, 2009
Blogs are the newspapers of the people. Unbiased, uninfluenced by the corrupt nature of our press, anyone can find honest, intimate information about anything they like. There are some dangers in this, of course, but any blog that is malicious or dishonest is usually a failure, as the readers will not trust the author. The bottom line: Blogging is all positive for the bottom line.
sermon video
May 29, 2009
blogs are a great way to communicate with your church. It is certainly the way of the future!
Fisher of Men CMS
June 16, 2009
Blogging could be a way a church would keep their members up to date on things going on, continue a church service or spread additional information on our relationship with Jesus, as a few examples. Whether it’s blogging or something else, the objective is to effectively communicate with the church members.
I think there are a lot of other things they can do to increase their membership and keep their members coming back, along with communicating with their members. One thing to consider is the older members of the church … many either have no computer or have very limited knowledge of how to use it.
free church newsletter template
August 8, 2009
The sad truth is that many church members would rather not bother with a website for the church. That means blogging would be pointless.
Personally I think a church forum would be better. It gives everyone a chance to connect as friends more and since it is online you can take some of the shy ones and make them feel better making friends.
Chris
September 10, 2009
i think it is a good to put a blog on a church website because it gets people more active on the site and increases participation. I plan to put a blog on our church site any ideas on where the on the site it should be? alamostone.org
Camnio Media
December 27, 2009
Blogs are becoming easier to use now. It’s really amazing to see the different kinds of responses from people.
Church Office Online
January 14, 2010
It really makes you wonder how effective some blog sites are when the span between postings is months and years. This is one of the rare sites where it is just days between postings. Having been a pastor for 35 years I believe that those in ministry are so overwhelmed by the multiple tasks of ministry that they can barely keep their head above water. So seeking and responding to blog sites may be not hit their top-ten-things to do list. As a co-founder of Church Office Online, we made it our mission to create tools intuitive to those in ministry. What we are finding is that the technology curve is beginning to take a sharp upward turn in churches. Among the technologies that churches are requesting is internet based management systems integrated with e-social networking (i.e. Facebook etc).
domain names
January 19, 2010
Really is great to see church goes unite on blogging sites :)
Andrew Jones
February 1, 2010
Interesting article. I always have thought church marketing was fascinating, yet too closely paralleled the way the world decided to go about its business. Blogging is such an effective thing. You can not only use it as a tool to affect those around you but to convey feelings that would otherwise fall through the cracks of civilization.
brilliant marketing job and business plan here
Brother Chris
July 18, 2010
I have recently started blogging from my church website and agree it is an interesting way to start communication, and even draw people who may not be interested any other way. Great post! Blessings.
Church Minister, Yorba Linda
August 9, 2010
Let’s set aside the trendy word blogging and just call it what it is.. Communicating. Every church leader from the beginning of time would agree that communicating is important. I think too many people get caught up in thinking that blogging is some kind of fancy internet fad or trend and that’s why they choose not to participate. But if we think about blogging as pure communication, I think its value becomes more clear.
Think about everything that you are trying to communicate with your church and even with those outside of the church. Put it all on your blog – thoughts on your vision and direction, new initiatives, events, announcements, philosophy, the reason why you made a certain decision … etc. Drill this down to each ministry level. If you’re a children minister, you need your own blog. At the very least, each primary church leader should be blogging about everything related to their church and their ministry.
Church Administrator
September 6, 2011
Sorry for posting almost anonymously, but I run a collection of blogs for local cities in various states, and I find that while local churches don’t always do too well when it comes to blogging, sometimes it can be done as a collective. The churches that I work with have to some extent decided to work together on one blog and make their presence known that way for the sake of evangelism. Maybe this is a trend that will continue. I don’t know. I know this post is old, but it’s still a good one…. cj for fncc