CyberReligion

When it comes to technology, I've always thought the Church lags behind . However, when I came across this post - Top 10 Church and Religious Web Sites - from TutorialBlog.org, I was surprised at the innovative designs (I know this is more 'religion online' rather than my usual 'online religion', but I thought I should branch out a little bit).

Although my knowledge of html and css is limited (designed my Dad's company web site when I was 13, that's about it), these sites are impressive. I think my favourites have to be Generation Church and Revolution Church.

It really shows how the Church is willing to spend good money (I doubt members of the clergy are designing these sites themselves!) hiring developers to build flashy web sites in order to attract a younger generation.

Within the comments on the blog post there is some debate as to whether churches should have a flashy web site. Some say that is is a waste of money and that a simpler, more text-based web site would be more appropriate. A flashy web site just means that the Church is trying too hard to look 'cool'. However, others say that money should never be an issue when trying to get the message of the Church across, and relatively speaking, the cost of designing and running a web site is not too dear.

Personally, I like it when the Church embraces new technologies. However, it would be interesting to see the effectiveness of the sites i.e. how many people started attending a particular church because of their web site? Or perhaps that's not the main goal of these sites. Since many offer discussion boards, the sites's purposes may be for current church-goers to have an online 'water-cooler' (as one comment put it).

Whatever the main reason for churches having their own web site, they definitely attract the attention of geeky web designers!

There has been an explosion of social network sites on the Internet in the past 5 years. Facebook and MySpace are now ranked 5th and 7th on the Alexa Top 500 Sites respectively (others such as Friendster and SkyRock also make the top 100).

I'm sure you're wondering how churches are taking advantage of the social network revolution. Let me introduce you to MyChurch.

MyChurch is a networking site for churches aiming to extend their communities between Sundays. After registering, the layout looks very similar to MySpace and has many of the same features: adding photos, a blog, a profile, etc.

However, the difference with MyChurch is that churches can also join. They can add their sermons to the site as video, audio, or as documents (making it a network of sites similar to previously mentioned LifeChurch.tv). Individual members of MyChurch can then become part of the church and receive these sermons and interact with other members of it.

MyChurch is not a small site, with 28,908 churches and 238,989 members already. Although only a fraction of the Facebook and MySpace numbers, this is a niche web site.

I believe the site is a great resource for churches that wish to start using the web but are not web savvy enough to produce their own web site (or perhaps have the financial means. Designing and hosting your own web site can be costly whereas MyChurch is free).

MyChurch also allows churches to reach a greater audience, with most of the churches being U.S. based. Those seeking a new ministry of choice will certainly have a wide range to choose from here.

Technology and religion, together at last. And I mean up to date technology!

LifeChurch.tv have a very modern, Web 2.0 designed-in-mind site. The site contains many dynamic functions, and the layout looks like it would belong to the latest upload of even the smartest spotty-faced web-geek. It's all very well done.

Who Are They?

LifeChurch was started (offline) in 1996 by Senior Pastor Craig Groeschel in a rented dance studio in Edmond, Oklahoma. From having only around 30 people at their first couple of services, Life (as it was known back then) was reaching 3000 people a week by the end of 2000.

It wasn't until April 2006 that the LifeChurch.tv web site was launched and services from the Oklahoma City Campus church could be broadcast via satellite uplink. The number of churches associated with LifeChurch has increased to 13, and are dotted around the United States of America.

What Do They Offer?

The web site offers a number of up-to-date communication mediums such as their live streamed video service (which is even available in high definition!), they have a blog, a podcast, and they have even released a Facebook application (which was a little dull to be honest. Let's just say it's no Jetman).

What Do I Think?

LifeChurch has had much criticism for it's focus on making money and less on teaching Christianity, it has been labelled by some as a 'franchise church'. One Facebook user commented that the site was like "Jesus Christ meets McDonald's." If you read their full history it does seem like they went from town-to-town taking over churches and putting their name on it.

However, I am impressed with their community - both online and offline. Offline communities, know as LifeGroups, regularly meet in order to try and make a difference for the community.

I can see how the web site would appeal to a younger, more tech-savvy generation. Those who wish to attend some form of church but prefer to communicate over the web, for whatever reason, will feel very comfortable on this web site.

I could not find anything about whether the church had a particular denomination, or what their theological beliefs were. I would have though that sort of information would be the first thing to go up on a new web site. However, they do offer their mission statement:

The mission of LifeChurch.tv is to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ.

Whether they are succeeding in their mission is hard to tell. One thing is for sure though, they aren't short of ideas, or technological know-how.

Hello world! I am a 3rd Year Theology student from the University of Birmingham participating in a module entitled 'CyberReligion'. The aims of the module are to identify and evaluate a certain aspect of the relationship between religion and the internet. I have chosen to look at online churches and their sermons as my theme for this blog. I will address issues such as:

• How does an online sermon take place?
• What are the kinds of sermon that take place in an online church?
• How similar are these sermons to sermons in a 'real-life' church?
• Why are people using online churches rather than attending 'real-life' churches?
• What are the problems with using an online church?

There are a myriad of sites that offer these sermons, and over the coming months I will be recording my thoughts and findings about a number of them on this blog.