Web Christian Blog

Everyone who is interested in models of ministry seems to have their own names for things – often because they want to redefine what each one means. Because there seems to be no one definition for anything I guess I’m going to have to do the same thing. I’m going to take a look at some of the models I’ve come across (feel free to tell me about others) and see how they relate to online ministry.

The attraction model works on the basis that people will be drawn to that which they find attractive. So by making the Christian faith attractive people will be drawn into exploring it and joining it.

This model has a lot going for it because it has been proved to work on more than one occasion. Let’s look at its merits:

1. It works. This is a model that works for everything, people really are drawn to what they find attractive. This works for the precontemplaters as well as those already committed so we can start to draw in those who are not even interested in the first place.
2. It’s simple because it works on some basic human instincts and you don’t have to get too carried away with being clever.
3. It works for everyone. Even those people who are in the church find that it works to keep them interested and engaged.
4. It self perpetuates. People are willing to tell others about things that they find attractive (well most of the time anyway) and so it helps to spread the message.

However, there are some serious problems with this approach as well:

1. It only works if you can make something attractive. One of the problems that the church in the U.K. has had to face is that often it isn’t very attractive. Small numbers of people in a crumbling old building, keeping old traditions alive (I like some of these old traditions so don’t misunderstand me) is very hard to make attractive to others.
2. It only works if you have a number of people already interested. This is perhaps were it becomes unstuck for the Internet. To draw people in by attraction you have to have a group of people who already think something is attractive. Without a following there is no growth.
3. There is a temptation to cheapen the message in an effort to keep things attractive. This is especially true when there are a small number or a very large number of followers. If attraction becomes the focus instead of the gospel things start to go wrong.
4. It’s primary job is only to draw people in. There is rarely a time when this is all that a website would want to do.

So it can work in certain circumstances but is limited and dangerous.

It is possible to present the attractive side of something to get attention and then use the interest to get a message across. In fact this is how I became a Christian myself. I was a young man and I encountered a church where there were lots of young women. However on the Internet things are a little different than in a church. In a church meeting you have a somewhat captive audience. Once they are in the building they will give the church a chance to say something, they will also come back. On the Internet there is no compulsion to stay. If someone comes to a website and they don’t like what they read then they will simply click away. There is the added problem that unless they have bookmarked the site or come from a site they often visit there is a fair chance you will never see them again.

So in my opinion the attraction model doesn’t really work very well. It is an appealing model because you can persuade yourself that if something looks good then people will come without you having to go out and find anyone but it has too many problems to be a simple cure all approach.

The conclusion is that whilst it is important for a website to look attractive, it is unlikely to make a site successful on its own.

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