Just my thoughts- but the idea of creating a brand new service or site may be appealing to a more fundamental crowd, but using existing avenues with good content and a drive toward community building and support – I believe- will gain a better reaction from the people the church is trying to aid and engage.

Churches has many community events that take place within them in the real world..

So a social network will showcase the members and the events that they have.

Like on my real world church website you can see long sermons, and videos of the choir and other events that take place, as well as communicate with other church members in the real world church!

“Thats an excellent thing”

But you have to stay up with the trends and get the right social network software to power your church community.

Now having a church or religious social network for the heck of it is definitely a waste!

Social Networks should be a standard for all real work churches due to all the features a social network offers, what they offer is the basis of whats offered in the real world!

Cobblestone users can post/write in Spanish but presently we have not released a Spanish version. This is a completely separate technology which you can view here: http://www.cobblestonecn.com

From the conversations we’ve had and hundreds of people that we involved in market research I’d say most pastors and people don’t share your position. Personally, as a pastor of a local church there are numerous reasons why we (Kaleo) would want this. But I’m cool if we agree to disagree.

As far as open source; Ben, there is some really good applications available and I know churches are already using some of them. On that note: In the near future, I will be offering free websites to churches and only charging for the service of setting it up, hosting, and tech support. In the case of what Monk provides, I don’t think it’s materialistic or anti-Christian having a paid alternative.

Drew/Ben, I have had great success with open source and I must say the support and technical advice has been better than ANY I’ve experienced in a paid environment.

Back on topic:

Drew, I agree with part of what you said “most of what is called ‚Äôsocial networking‚Äô is meaningless.” as it pertains to my personal life. Now when it comes to work, thats a different story. I am part of several work related social networks of sorts and this interaction has been mutually beneficial.

A Church Community Network – I can’t think of any reason to have one. Plus, I would venture to guess that just about anything you would want to use it for, you can already do/use something that is already out there. Other than it being called “Church” or “Christian”.

I could have a Church-targeted community site up and running on Monday with the help of WPMU & BuddPress. But I do not see the reason or need.

“What do you think a Church Community Network should be?”
I don’t think we need any Church or Christian Community Networks, regardless if it is focussed on the individual or the community. Go be the Church in the networks that already exists in the community.

Steve

Ps. In the first sentences of that last paragraph I almost sound like a deconstructionist. Well, I’m not. Far from it. I just don’t think we need any Church/Christian Social Networks.

I’d have to disagree. I believe someone who provides a service or product to help churches can earn a living. From my experience often the ‘real’ cost including lack of support & accountability, technical skills required and confusion churches are left with from open source software is far more costly than paying a fair price to have people assist them.

As to the phrasing, we have looked at two segments Christian social networks where everyone is invited to join and Church Community Networks which are private communities for a local church to interact.

And it’s a matter of phrasing between “social network = my” and “community network = our.” Besides Facebook being a hook-up site…

Great post! Every community is different, so I suppose the idea of a local network would always be a little different depending on where your church is and who your audience is. But I do believe that in every way, a localized social networking model is a much better fit into the Church’s mission than a globablized one. Freecycle.org is one fantastic success story in local social networking and for anyone who is interested in launching a Church Community Network, I’d highly recommend signing up with Freecycle just to experience it and see what you pull from it. Drew, I look forward to hearing about the variety of ways that your network is utilized in the local community! I don’t have a specific answer to your question, but I do have a few hypothetical questions for the local church, to continue the conversation.

1) Where is God calling us as a Church in fulfilling the Great Commission? Are we confident/faithful enough in that calling that we’re ready to PRIORITIZE using our website to DO ministry online, rather than promote how we’re doing it at the church? This prioritization is important if any kind of local network is to be effective.

2) The foundation of the Church’s mission is its teaching of truth to others. Are we looking at this network first as an effective teaching and learning medium to help users understand and apply the Gospel message? Or is this simply a place where people get connected and hopefully grow closer together in a way that leads to spiritual growth? Have we properly integrated the two?

3) How can this network be deeply integrated with and add to the effectiveness of Church programs already going on? Example programs are sermons, bible studies, outreach programs, food drives, recovery programs, retreats, etc. To be clear, the question is not related to how the network can promote these programs, only how it can help them be more effective in doing ministry.

That’s all for now. Thanks for the great post!

Brendon