Earlier this week CWM community member bunced recommended Church123 from within the CWM forum thread topic: EZ to build site, nice layout: which web host would you recommend for
What interested me was the statement by bunced that Church123 is:
"very powerful, and a professional company with a good customer service record and a nice product".
I have to say that after checking out Church123 for myself, I absolutely agree with bunced.
I signed up for a free 30 day trial account and here is what I saw:
In my communications with Gordon, from Church123, regarding my comments about how easy is is to use their system, here is part of what Gordon said:
Our system is not crammed with as many features as some CMS's. We've concentrated on getting the core functionality really, really good. Our strengths are certainly ease of use and support (we genuinely care). In truth if you stick lots of features in the CMS then churches will think they should use them and they litter their sites with all sorts of widgets that actually distract visitors from the reason they came to the site. I go to a church of about 100 people, our site is clean and information rich (it was used as an example by the World Web Evangelism Day). On average we get two new visitors through the doors on a Sunday directly because of our website.
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I just came across this great post from back in April by Dean over at Heal Your Church Web Site about Software as a Service for Church Websites .
It is worth a read and your consideration if you are involved with any Christian Website for an organization. Here is a small snippet to entice you over to read the post:
...SaaS helps keep this highly mobile, suburbanly sprawled congregation together by facilitating both paid and lay staff in terms of communications, sharing materials and schedule management. In other words, the problems solved by FBCF’s use of the CCM go well past that of simple website content ‘manglement.’
The following material has been excerpted from the excellent tract offered by The Society of Archbishop Justus and may be read in full context at: http://justus.anglican.org/r...
The Church has a two-fold aim in regard to the media. One aspect is to encourage their right development and right use for the sake of human development, justice, and peace—for the up building of society at the local, national, and community levels in light of the common good and in a spirit of solidarity. Considering the great importance of social communications, the Church seeks “honest and respectful dialogue with those responsible for the communications media”—a dialogue that relates primarily to the shaping of media policy. “On the Church's side this dialogue involves efforts to understand the media—their purposes, procedures, forms and genres, internal structures and modalities—and to offer support and encouragement to those involved in media work. On the basis of this sympathetic understanding and support, it becomes possible to offer meaningful proposals for removing obstacles to human progress and the proclamation of the Gospel”.
But the Church's concern also relates to communication in and by the Church herself. Such communication is more than just an exercise in technique, for it “finds its starting point in the communion of love among the divine Persons and their communication with us”, and in the realization that Trinitarian communication “reaches out to humankind: The Son is the Word, eternally ‘spoken' by the Father; and in and through Jesus Christ, Son and Word made flesh, God communicates himself and his salvation to women and men”.
God continues to communicate with humanity through the Church, the bearer and custodian of his revelation, to whose living teaching office alone he has entrusted the task of authentically interpreting his word. Moreover, the Church herself is a communion, a communion of persons and eucharistic communities arising from and mirroring the communion of the Trinity; communication therefore is of the essence of the Church. This, more than any other reason, is why “the Church's practice of communication should be exemplary, reflecting the highest standards of truthfulness, accountability, sensitivity to human rights, and other relevant principles and norms”.
The answer might sound very simplistic, but we think it’s the answer just the same: Learn how to use the internet, or how better to use the internet, in your church. Use it for mission, to spread the Word of God. Use it for community, to talk to one another. Use it for administration, to save money, and to draw closer the populace and the administration of the church. If you do this, and God calls you to do something specific, you will know it when the time comes.
If you are one of the Church’s thinkers, a theologian, an ordained, a doctoral candidate, a lecturer, then you should try to engage with the moral and ethical issues raised by the internet and its use, some of which are touched on in this paper. The internet needs serious and informed study of these points, and the Church should involve itself in them.
If you are a Christian who is not part of the structure of the church, make sure you let your Christian values and behavior shine through on the internet the same way that you let it shine through in your daily life.
Psalm 127:1
Unless the LORD builds the house,
The builders labor in vain;
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman stands guard in vain.May the LORD be the builder of our web sites as He uses us to build.
May the LORD guard our web sites as He uses us to watch over them.
May His blessings be upon us as we labor in Internet Evangelism.
This material is comes directly from http://guide.gospelcom.net/index.php and should be read there in full context.
An incredible new technology enables the transmission of text on a worldwide basis. It rapidly reduces production and distribution costs and for the first time allows large numbers of people to access text and pictures in their own homes.
The invention of 'movable type' by Gutenberg – the printing press.
The digital revolution is bringing about a similar huge change in evangelism, Christian discipleship and community, in ways which are only just beginning.
Print, video, radio and TV are mainly 'push' mediums, sending out a consecutive ('linear') prepared message, usually only to a single area of the world.
The Web is a 'pull' medium. It pulls in visitors on the basis of a defined interest. It is global: anyone, anywhere - in China or the Middle East - can find a page in seconds.
Unique property of the Internet is interactivity. Build 'community' around a website helps people feel wanted and that their opinions are valued. It gives them a place where they can ask questions in a safe way, when perhaps they would not do that face-to-face. Interaction is very important. Very few people become Christians just by reading something.
Therefore…
People need a place of refuge, someone to guide and help them
Example: A place to turn - after 9/11
The following comes from:
Wired churches, wired temples: Taking congregations and missions into cyberspace -- Pew Internet & American Life Project
Over 1,300 congregations responded to an email from the Pew Internet & American Life Project and filled out an online survey that asked how they built and use their Web sites, how congregations and leaders use email, and whether their use of Internet tools has helped the spiritual and everyday life of their members.
The Internet is the only mass medium … whose audience share has grown during the past decade. The proportion of the population using the Internet for faith purposes has increased by two-thirds since 1998.
-- Barna Research, March 14, 2005
The following comes from Faith Online: Pew Internet & American Life project published April 7th, 2004 (http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Faith_Online_2004.pdf)
Most of the following statistics are taken directly from various resources found at the Pew Internet and American Life Project
Matthew 9
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
On a typical day: