Will the Church Claim its Moment in History? (1)

Churches don't understand the digital era if they think they can throw up a Web site, add a few cheesy congregational pictures and then comfortably sit back thinking they've done their web thing. Actually they've routed around it, wasting time and resources. Paying someone to throw up a web site with a church header and a calendar with a picnic date and a few outdated church functions is little more than advertisement born of the print era. Flying beneath the radar screen of ninety-percent of the churches in America is a gathering digital conversations taking place in news groups, emails, instant messaging, and blogs. While leaders browse church web sites the digital church grows. It's everywhere.

Here's a suggestion. Stop using the web as an information library and begin thinking of it as a community where conversations gather.

Churches that neglect a strategy for the future will not realize the importance of retooling to root itself in the gathering digital conversation. Unfortunately many churches will find themselves standing in the wake of a rapidly emerging church.