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****************************************************** webminister@webminister.com September 1999 - #1
IN THIS ISSUE:
****************************************************** This webminister has a vision of church Internet ministries through effective church web pages as a ministry of the church, the use of the Internet as a tool for church growth, using principles of church growth to strengthen the body of Christ, and training church leadership at all levels. A recent survey published on the Internet by the Barna Research Group entitled "The Cyberchurch Is Coming: National Survey of Teenagers Shows Expectation of Substituting Internet for Corner Church ©" writes "Our research indicates that by 2010 we will probably have 10% to 20% of the population relying primarily or exclusively upon the Internet for its religious input. Those people will never set foot on a church campus because their religious and spiritual needs will be met through other means - including the Internet. Whether or not the cyberchurch is a "true" church may not be pressing an issue as what current church leaders will do about the inevitable gravitation of tens of millions of people away from the existing church and how they can help to shape this emerging church form." Read the article at: http://webminister.com/growth01/plan0011.htm This Newsletter will be published around the 1st and 15th of every month or 24 issues a year. This Newsletters will be up to four pages in length and provide links to recommended reading.
****************************************************** However, this summer I returned to the part of the United States where I was raised. I had not been in that area for thirty years, but I visited more than 50 churches within a three-week period. A church once averaged 500 in worship now had less than 100. In one town of 6,000, the church was destroyed by a tornado in the 1970s and was rebuilt in another section of town. I asked eleven people where the church was located and not one could tell me. Even the lady at the Chamber of Commerce had to go look up the address of the church with 70 members in chamber records! I was shocked at what I had found. I talked with many ministers who really did not know how to change the situation into a growing church. They all knew how to prepare a sermon and shepherd the flock, but just expected people to beat a path to their door. I recently talked to John W. Ellas, Director of the "Center for Church Growth" about what I had found. The answer is in learning to solve the problems of a plateaued and declining church. The Center is building a web site dedicated to church growth, both spiritually and numerically. At http://4churchgrowth.com, new material is being added monthly. Future issues of this Newsletter will discuss problems and solutions to plateaued and declining churches.
****************************************************** Churches with a low percentage of church involvement either plateau or decline. Next, more and more duties fall upon fewer and fewer members. Church leadership needs to develop programs to get more people involved in a specialized ministry of their choosing. These are the issues that this newsletter will be covering in the future for developing a balanced ministry of shepherding and community evangelism.
****************************************************** A church member's e-mail address should not be placed out on the church web site. Non-church members will SPAM (unsolicited and unwanted e-mail) your congregation. Instead, collect and publish the e-mail addresses in the church directory. Another solution is using a password protected e-mailing list on their web site. More than thirty churches of Christ are using this approach. (1) On the "Home Page" text is more important than graphics. The church name and logo in graphics cannot be indexed by most "search engines". (2) The same applies to those that use frames in HTML coding. (3) At 28.8 connection speed, the church "Home Page" needs to load within 15 seconds. Any longer than that, many will never see it or come back to your web site. A church member will get bored with the long wait.
****************************************************** "The Purpose Driven Church" can be bought from Barnes and Noble with a 30% discount for $10.99 (paperback) plus shipping and handling at http://webminister.com/barnes/book5001.htm. One can also purchase the book from CBD (Christian Book Distributers) at 1-978-977-5080 using order number #20106 for $13.95 plus shipping and handling.
****************************************************** If you have questions with material covered in this Newsletter, please e-mail at webminister@webminister.com. I need your comments and input. I will be covering your questions in later issues. If you want to "unsubscribe," e-mail and let me know why. In His Service, The Webminister |