ReligionWriter.com mentioned Leadership Network's recent concept paper on Web 2.0 Applications: Online Social Networking Tools for the Church in its blog post titled God’s Social Networks: Evangelicals Leading the Way Online, excerpted here:
If you’re someone who believes life was better before Google and that “face-to-face interaction” is the gold standard of human relationships then read no further: You’ll only shake your head and be vaguely depressed to learn that people are now “going to church” through their computers and creating virtual faith communities online. ... Not surprisingly, it’s evangelicals, the same dynamic, energetic people who brought you megachurches, multi-site churches and even the “emergent” church. ...Here’s what you need to know — and do — to think about using Web 2.0 applications to expand your faith community.
- LifeChurch.tv is wiping the floor with everyone else when it comes to digitizing the divine. The church, whose tag line is “One Church, Multiple Locations” has an Internet Campus where about 700 people worship each Sunday while sitting at home in front of their computers.
- Whether you like it or not, many people have what the concept paper calls a “rich online life:” ... as the telephone is to you, so online interaction is for others: a normal way of communicating.
- Beware, say religion 2.0 leaders in the concept paper: Online virtual worlds like Second Life or social networking sites like MySpace are, by nature, open to anyone.
- Religious-minded folks have responded to the unvetted nature of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook by creating popular faith-based networking sites like MyChurch.org, or, MuslimSpace.com for Muslims, Schmooze.com for Jews, Sikhpal.com for Sikhs, LDSLinkup.com for Mormons, etc. etc., you get the idea.
Read the full blog post and download the concept paper for free to get all the details.
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