Another model for evangelism I came across the other day was called “Events Evangelism”. This approach seeks to engage those outside the church through the organising of events to which they are invited.
I’ve seen a lot of this approach (I’ve even done it myself) and it can work but it suffers from a lot of problems.
It’s a good idea because:
- People will feel more comfortable coming to something that is not going to be churchy.
- Church folk don’t feel embarrassed inviting people to things that are not churchy (I always find this a little sad really but I often feel the same myself).
- It enables people who don’t come to church to see church people doing normal and fun things and so removes barriers.
- If it is a big event then it can really make an impact on people.
It’s a bad idea because:
- Often it is only the church people who turn up anyway
- It can be very embarrassing when hardly anyone comes (once had this with a church BBQ we tried on a bit of waste ground near a new housing estate – even the church people stayed away (it still makes me shudder even now). Needless to say 10 years later the church is still struggling.
- There are some who will only come for the event and don’t want to know about the Christian side of things.
- It’s hard to know how to get the Christian message into the event – music is a great way of doing this though.
Will it work on the Internet?
Not really – at least not yet. It’s really hard to plan an ‘event’ on the Internet because people use the Internet at times that suit them. Sometimes its possible but it doesn’t fit too well with the general nature of the Internet.
It’s also hard because one of the things that makes an event go well is the food. This is pretty impossible to arrange on the Internet.
Despite the best/worst efforts of some it isn’t really possible to get people doing things at the same time on the Internet e.g. group singing, etc. I’ve seen some creative attempts but in my experience it doesn’t work so well.
I think perhaps there may be ways of getting this to work on the Internet but only in association with a ‘real’ event. I’ve seen some good blogs produced for events and perhaps live streaming some things is possible but ultimately there will always be the problem that people connect to the Internet alone (or at least generally they do).
admin models for online ministry online ministry
So your minister/pastor/leader/priest is brilliant and you want to include an example of the high quality messages on your site. Or perhaps your minister/pastor/leader/priest thinks he is a bit of a hot preacher and wants to conquer the world with his latest message and wants to make it available from the web site.
There are various ways of doing it and here is a link to a site that will give you the technical low down.
http://www.boutell.com/newfaq/creating/audio.html
I want to add a plea though. Please don’t make it play when the page loads – I work on my own most of the time but I still don’t like messages booming at me from web sites, imagine what it would be like in a quiet office filled with people who already think your mad for being a Christian!
admin web building sound
I personaly think that email addresses should be on web sites and if this means that you get some spam then you just have to put up with it (I get loads). However there are things you can do to help reduce/stop the problem.
1. Don’t use obvious names like webmaster@ or info@ for email addresses and only allow names that you set up (e.g. don’t use a system that sends all email to your web address to you – commonly known as a catch all). Spammers get your address and stick the obvious names on the front and then test to see if they can get a response.
2. Use an image instead of text. I don’t really like this but at least your address is visible to those who can see it.
3. Use spam filtering software. I use stuff that sits on my server as well as one on my computer. The only trouble with this is that you occasionally get a genuine email that gets stuck. Make sure you train your systems well and this will not be much of a problem.
4. Hide your email address using Javascript. Here is a link to a system that works quite well. http://www.hochmanconsultants.com/articles/stop-email-spam.shtml
The problem with doing this is that only those with Javascript on will be able to use the link – however you can write your address in a clever way that anyone with a bit of brain could work out (e.g chris AT webchristian 0 org 0 uk) so that spam bots can’t see it – if youu use something that is a little odd then just add a description to it.
5. Use a form – I really hate this way of getting around the problem. I like to use my email system because it keeps a record of what I’m doing and who I’ve sent messages to and when. Some spammers also use forms to send their spam anyway so it doesn’t stop the problem.
I’d also like to add a personal note that you can’t assume that the email address spam comes from is actually the spammer. I have a very good url for my business and spammers are forever using my address to send their spam – this really ticks me off but I can’t stop it. It then is upsetting when I get messages from people who are angry at me because they think I’ve sent them spam – I understand their position but it wasn’t me that sent it. Even worse I then get blacklisted on spam systems and my emails sometimes get blocked. I really don’t like spam but I still think it is better for a Christian site to turn the other cheek and take the spammers abuse for the sake of being available to those who who need your response. I know what they send is often offensive but sometimes we just have to live with that for the sake of the gospel – there said my peace, sorry if you disagree.
admin web building church, spam
In the interests of not re-inventing the wheel I’ve included some links to the tehnocalities of the subject below. However you need first to think about the most important question to ask. Why? Why do you want video on your website? If it is to inform or explain or entertain then I’m all for it but if it is because others have video so you think you should then think again. Never put something on a website because someone else has got it – only ever use video if it can play an important role in your website.
The most popular way of using video is to make use of YouTube. So here is a link that tells you all about it:
http://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutorials/web_graphics/article.php/3480061
Here is a link to some information on adding a flash video file:
http://www.boutell.com/newfaq/creating/video.html
admin web building