An IPOD Generation Church

Posted by the ‘eMinister’

The following quote is a statement that should be embraced by every Ministry.

“We must recognize that this generation is no longer the generation of the 8-Track, but of the IPod. So we must provide relevant ministry that meets the needs of our congregation.” - Dr. Walker.

As Dr. Walker’s statement suggest, the church must continue to use Ministry to meet the needs of the people.

OVerall, the Church has consistently failed to keep up with the pace of Technology as a Ministry tool. As the needs of the Church changes, the strategies used in Ministry must also change. A church that uses old methods of Ministry cannot be effective in today’s society and fails to meet the needs of this generation. Some ‘church’ folks would say, “it’s not about keeping their attention; it’s about spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ”. My point exactly!! Meeting the needs of the people is Ministry which in turns nurtures their spirit for the Word of God and allows the Church to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Picture this: we have the Church standing on one river bank preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have the people of this generation on the other river bank attempting to listen to, hear, and understand the message. But its one-way. The Church preaches, they listen.

Technology is the tool that can bridge the gap between today’s generation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It allows the message to be two-way; interactive where the listener can become part of the message.

In the Bible, Jesus journeyed to various places of Ministry and met the people where they lived. He in a sense, carried the gospel to a place where the people could be exposed to the Truth and interact with Jesus. People want to be involved with the message.

Our Youth, Young Adults, and Older Adults have incorporated Cell Phones, the Internet, IPods, MP3 players, Video Players, E-mail, RSS Feeds, Blogs, Social Networking and other technology tools into their everyday living. As we minister to the world, we need to reach them through these present communication avenues.

This generation is looking for something more than a Sunday Morning experience. How can we, the Church, give it to them?

By embracing the devices and tools used on a daily basis by this generation and developing Ministry strategies to incorporate these devices. Making the ‘Word’ available 24 hours a day / 7 days a week will have more impact than a once a week Sunday morning experience. We live in a mobile society. Access to the Word is a crucial element in any Ministry. Being able to discuss, reply to, and interact with the Ministry is also important to this generation.

Your Ministries eStrategy should include some of the following ‘ipod’ techniques: 1) Online Audio Sermons 2) Online Video Sermons 3) PodCasting 4) RSS Feeds 5) Blogs 6) Mobi 7) Online Donations and Social Networking (Twitter, MySpace, Facebook).

Each of these techniques will be address individually in future blogs.

BlogTalkRadio.com

Image telling your Church Leadership that you can setup an Internet Talk Show for your Ministry. All it requires is an Internet Connection and a Phone. Sounds to good to be true?

The Technology is here and it’s FREE!! Welcome to Blog Talk Radio.…

What is BTR?

BlogTalkRadio is the social radio network that allows users to connect quickly and directly with their audience. Using an ordinary telephone and computer hosts can create free, live, call-in talk shows with unlimited participants that are automatically archived and made available as podcasts. No software download is required. Listeners can subscribe to shows via RSS into iTunes and other feed readers.

PodCasting Made Simple

I recently came across this video posted on YouTube. It gives an Excellent explanation of one of the most Important and Useful Ministry tools available: PODCASTING.

Web Portals: The Next Step for Church Sites (Web Portals)

Posted on: 05/11/2008

by Cindy Streett @ ChurchSolutionsMag.com

Just a few years ago, it was stressed that every organization must have a Web site. Having a Web site had become a key tool for reaching people and a requirement if you wanted to reach those young people who practically grew up with computers.

Read the entire article…

Web Drives the New Church

Posted on: 05/02/2008 by Daryl McMullen @ ChurchSolutions.com

“And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

Matthew 24:14 (NKJV)

There is a pervasive stereotype in the world today that boils church down to pews, dusty hymnals and counting the minutes until closing prayer. And while we haven’t done a good job in the past to change this, there is a movement in churches today toward cultural relevance. You see it in the physical buildings, in the way people are connecting to the Church, and in the use of nontraditional service elements such as contemporary music, movie and television clips, stage sets, dramatic presentations, and created media. But nowhere is there greater potential for advancement than in the use of the Internet to develop community and expand the reach of the church. Read More…..

Web Empower Your Church with CyberMinistry

Although very few churches can afford to have a digerati team support their internet presence, most all can put up and maintain a web site online. With some direction, every church can develop an internet strategy for beginning web-based ministry. Here’s a book for newbies.

Web-Empower Your Church: Unleashing the Power of the Internet for Ministry

Author: Mark M. Stephenson, Director of The Web-Empowered Church

Publisher: Abingdon Press

Summary: Harness the power of the internet for Jesus. The internet is opening up new possibilities for all aspects of church ministry, from daily administrative tasks to worldwide evangelism and discipleship.

This book is about web-empowering your church ministries. Learn the practical steps, techniques, and ideas needed to develop an excellent and effective web ministry that increases your efficiency and effectiveness.

Mark Stephenson, Director of CyberMinistry and Technology at Ginghamsburg Church, shares his experiences with starting and now leading a large and active church web ministry. Ginghamsburg’s website is now over 4000 pages in size, and averages over one new visit every half minute, 24/7.

Whether your church has a website or not, this book will help you grow you internet ministry and take the next step to fully web-empower your church ministries.

What is PodCasting?

The word ‘Podcast’ is a mix of the words ‘iPod’ and ‘broadcast’. This has lead many people into believing that you need an iPod to be able to access podcasts, but they would be mistaken. You do not need an iPod - nor any other MP3 player - to podcast, or listen to a podcast for that matter. All you need is some audio-playing software on your computer and speakers. Using an IPod or MP3 player is an option.

The majority of people have both speakers and some form of audio-playing software - step one accomplished.

Podcasting is a type of online media delivery, but different to any that have existed previously. Put simply, podcasting allows you to download files via a feed (such as RSS) onto your computer and MP3 player. These files can be music, talk shows, interviews, discussions, news… the list is endless. However, there is more to it than that: The significant characteristic about podcasting is that you can subscribe to a series so that it automatically downloads on to your computer and MP3 player. Many believe that it is for this feature that podcasting became so popular in 2004.

Why is it so popular?

Podcasting, in effect, allows you to create your own personalised radio station. The main use of podcasting is in conjunction with MP3 players - people want to listen to their favorites on the move, whenever and wherever they wish. Say you were going to have a busy and miss your favorite sermon. Podcasting allows you to download them all (automatically) so you can listen to them when it is more convenient for you. In fact, you can compile all you favourite music, film reviews, sermons, news stories and so on… in effect creating your own personal radio station to listen to.

How can I do it?

If you want to listen to individual shows, you can usually download them from the site of your choice. If you want to subscribe to a series, then you need to download some free ‘podcatching’ software. Some examples of this software are iTunes, iPodder, Odeo, PodNova and Feedburner. You can use podcatching software to subscribe to your favorite podcasts, which will then be automatically downloaded for you.

Where can I find PodCasts?

There is a huge amount of websites that offer their own podcasts; it is just a matter of finding which one you like. If you’re not sure where to begin, then try taking a look at podcatching software. More often than not, they have a list of the most popular podcasts or categories of different podcasts. Not only does this software allow you to track down podcasts that may interest you, but some can also be used to create your own podcasts. It has become quite a trend among webmasters to start doing this, and the podcasts tend to be incredibly popular with regulars to the website.

Impacts to the Church

It is now becoming more popular for Ministries to offer Podcast as an additional method of sermon delivery. Image, once a user subscribes to a podcast, your latest message can be downloaded for listening whenever the user connections to their computer. Podcasting makes the Word of God ‘portable’ and available 24/7.