We must use the web to stay connected with youth

This is not just a discussion about web pages anymore. Hundreds of thousands of churches decided in the late nineties that in order to stay connected with their young people they needed to have a web site. Most churches didn't really approach that project with any sort of plan or objective. Well, maybe there was an objective, to simply just have a web site. I recall overhearing conversations in youth ministry circles about what unique things they were doing to stay connected with young people. So many of them would list having a web site as one of those. I was always curious as to what the big deal was. What makes your web site so cool or cutting edge?

Here we are 5 years later, most churches still have that same web site with bad clip art and lots of words. What good is that space doing? Are we really taking full advantage of the web as a ministry tool?

I'm not starting this blog to point fingers at who is right and wrong, or who is cutting edge and who is cutting nothing. I'm starting this blog to begin a real conversation about the possibilities. The possibilities of where the web can take us in ministry.

I'd like to offer Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church's Youth Ministry website as an example of where we can go. Check it out when you have a chance.