We have begun using various forms of new technologies available on the internet as a way of improving communication, increasing productivity, being creative, and especially to promote the Gospel. We have been exploring a number of new "paths" for our congregation and it's groups (teams, committee's boards, etc...) and I would like to share some of them with you in the hopes that this may help other churches out there. Many of these are new to our congregation, so we are learning and adapting. God has provided these great avenues to assist in the effectiveness of the churches mission to go and make disciples.
1) We are introducing to our Confirmation Class the use of a social networking site, somewhat like MySpace, or Facebook. We are using Nexo, but one could also use ning. Nexo allows me to only invite our confirmation students and keep it secure as well as moderated by me, the pastor. We are using this for a number of things such as forums for discussions, files if they need it, calendar of events, and they can 
even upload pictures and video! It is a great way to extend the class as well connect the public school confirmation students with the day school students.
Through this site the students can even have their own blogs and picture sections. It is very secure and moderated by the pastor. When something new gets posted, an email goes out to all the students informing them that so and so put something up.(Click on the image to see the larger view.)
We are looking into more ways of using this.
2) We are also using Nexo for our outreach team to help finalize things between meetings, share ideas and information such as minutes, web sites etc. with information as well as a calendar for our events or deadlines for projects.By this method we can use our resources more effectively instead of using emails. The same idea as above applies as far as security and moderation, but adults will have a little more freedom. We are praying that this keeps our meetings shorter and more productive. I personally use Nexo for my long distance family connections, as well as exploring it as a way to connect the leaders of our small group ministries.
3) I am in the process of training some of our staff in using Google Docs to gather shared information into one document. By gathering all of our information into one secure place, everyone can participate, edit and revise a document. Instead of getting five and six and more changes and at different times, everyone involved goes to the site and edits in one place. Then we can convert to Word, pdf, etc. In October we will be training all our teams (boards) to use this tool.
4) Another useful tool is Google Calendar. With this tool the Administrative Assistant is making individual calendars for vacations, upcoming weddings and more. Then we have one central location for those approved to check these calendars at work, at home, on the road, again in one central location and secure. That is the beauty of each of these web 2.0 tools, you can get access to them anywhere at anytime. No more - oops I left that file at home!
5) We continue to use more traditional means of communication such as the web and email. With these we are also learning new ways that we can improve our web site at oursaviorchurch.org. Dreamweaver CS3 is opening new doors. As we continue to develop our site, we are will be looking forward to advancing our communication with the congregation and the community. Future additions include online forms for registrations for our day school as well as events and access to additional church information only in print before.
We are continuing to look for ways to improve our ministries and our service to God and the community through many avenues including the use of technology and the web. If you have any ideas or things you are doing at your church, we would love to know. Any questions, feel free to email me at rolsen@oursaviorchurch.org.
