March 15, 2011

Online News as Evangelism

Many congregational growth success stories point to becoming more relevant to the neighborhood where your church is located. So many of our struggling congregations are "legacy" parishes where most Sunday worshippers have some historical connection to that church and do not live in the neighborhood. 

One way for a congregation to get connected with the surrounding community might be to start a hyperlocal news site on the web. Producing such a news site would:
  •  raise the profile of the church in the community
  •  inform the congregation of pressing community concerns
  •  be an outlet for publicizing church events and concerns
  •  provide a forum for neighborhood faith-based commentary, and more.
A hyperlocal news site is like running a small town weekly newspaper. My dad published two of those in his lifetime and it really does connect you with the community. These news sites already exist. Visit www.patch.com and see some local examples. One such site carried an Ash Wednesday story about a New Jersey Episcopal parish offering ashes at the local commuter rail station.

Religious groups have been running traditional news outlets for the wider community for decades. The Christian Science Monitor may be the mostly widely known. In Salt Lake City, The Deseret News daily newspaper is owned by the Mormon Church but has enjoyed a reputation of journalistic excellence for many years. 

When I posted this idea on the Episcopal Communicators listserv  one member, Sharon Sheridan, said her parish is a partner in another New Jersey site. Sheridan admitted they're "still working out precisely what sponsorship means."

Running such a news site would certainly require work. The benefits could be great for your church. There's help out there. As it happens The New York Times is currently offering an online class about setting up such a site.

Getting your parish connected with your community is one of the topics of monthly conference calls hosted by Tom Brackett, The Episcopal Church's missioner for new church planting and redevelopment. Check out his page at  for ideas and ways to participate in his calls.

Notice I've made no mention of what might be traditionally described as evangelism. But evangelism today begins with listening to those around us and telling our story of what it means to follow Jesus. A hyperlocal news site could be our modern day Areopagus (Acts 17:16-34) where Paul told leaders of Athens his story and the story of the resurrection. Let's not pass up this opportunity.
------
The Rev. Canon Dan Webster is canon for evangelism and ministry development in the Diocese of Maryland. He is a member of Episcopal Communicators and General Convention's Standing Commission on Communication and Information Technology.