eMinistry & Open Source Tools

An effective eMinistry is comprised of people who are committed to leveraging the wide range of available information technologies (IT) and tools for meeting practical, daily needs of one's local church. Starting an eMinistry can be a challenge. Obstacles such as lack of understanding, vision, budget, time and technical skills are just some of the challenges that churches encounter will encounter when starting an eMinistry. However, the benefits to the church, its mission, ministries, and congregation can be tremendous.

As Dr. Owens states in his paper on eMinistry Basics, "Your church web site is no more about electronics and technology than your sanctuary is about microphone systems and pews. The microphone and pews are tools that enable worship to take place. The web site is a tool that enables a broad range of traditional ministries to occur."

And its not just the web anymore. Think about email, wikis, social media, televideo, smartphones, and many of the other tools and technologies widely used today. Think of Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube, and all the other channels of communication that are revolutionizing how we live our lives in this 21^st century 'Information Age'.  

Just as the printing press turned the world upside down 500 years ago, information technology (IT) is having a similar impact, both on the world and the church. Don't fight the tide, instead embrace the use of these new tools and use them to more effectively serve God and carry out the mission we have been assigned.

You may be surprised at how quickly people will offer to be on an eMinistry team once you start looking for volunteers. There are a lot of people who will never volunteer for the nursery but who will be the first to join an eMinistry team.  Church leaders new to the idea of eMinistry and the use of information technologies (IT) need to take the time to read eMinistry Basics and some of the many other helpful studies posted on the non-profit COSI 'Open' Religious Technology & Tools web site.  

If funding an eMinistry is an issue, use the many high quality, free and open source software (FOSS) tools now available, e.g. Online Bibles, Sermons, Training Materials, etc. .  Again, visit the COSI web site to find out more about these resources. 

Have you started an eMinistry in your church? Tell us about it. Share your 'Lessons Learned' and 'Best Practices' with us.

Social Media, Web Sites, & Open Source Tools for Today's Churches

The incorporation of digital technologies and effective use of the Internet into church-based ministry is an new skill set churches need to master. The Internet has become one of the pivotal communications and community-building tools of our lifetime and can be of great use to churches and their congregations in a variety of ways.

Back in 2000, just one-third of Protestant churches (34%) had a church web site. By 2005, more than half the churches (57%) had web sites. Today, well over two-thirds of churches have web sites and the numbers continue to climb. See Church Executive.

About half of the small churches (less than 100 adult members) have a church web site, compared to three-quarters of the mid-sized churches (100 to 250 adults members) and over 90% of  large churches (more than 250 regularly attending adult members).

In addition to web sites, well over 25% of Protestant churches now have some presence on social networking sites, e.g. Facebook, Linkedin.  Again, church size plays a factor, with over half of larger churches having a presence on social networking sites.

To learn more about the use of information technology (IT) by churches and their congregations, go to the COSI Open Religious Technology web site.  Many software tools, mobile apps, digitized educational materials, eGames, and more are 'open source' and are available for free.  

Let us know about any other high quality, free and open source software solutions or products pastors, church leaders, or congregations might find useful.

Reports & Studies on Technology and the Church

The importance of information technology (IT) to support church operations and missions will continue to grow. So, it behooves church leaders at all levels to study the topic in more depth and read about 'best practices' and 'lessons learned' from others. The following are links to selected studies, reports, articles or white papers on innovative 'open' information technology and tools for religious organizations, church leaders, and their congregations.

• The Art of Cyber Church 
• Churches Giving Tech Its Due 
• eMinistry Basics White Paper 
• Information Technology in Congregations 
• Information Technology for Missionaries 
• Information Technology in Seminaries 
• Methodist Church: Using Technology in Worship & Mission 
• Statistics on Fastest Growing Religions   
• Technology in Churches
• White Paper & Theology Resources on the Internet   

The non-profit COSI 'Open' Religious Technology web site also has links to selected blogging sites, books, organizations, and many other resources focused on free & open source solutions for both religious organizations and individuals - go to http://religion.cositech.net 

Please share with us any other good books or free resources you would recommend on the use of Information Technology for religious organizations, their ministries, and congregations.   

Christians & Technology in the News

Why don't Christian news organizations have a separate section on technology. A quick  two minute search of news about Christians and computer technology brought up the following articles from various Christian news web sites.

Technology Connects Christians During Flu Spread

Bluetooth Technology to Soon Save Lives? – CBN Health & Science

Getting Through to Generation 'Text' - CBN News

Parents Get Schooled on Online Safety - CBN News

Spreading the Gospel in Ecuador's Jungles

Google to Post Dead Sea Scrolls Online

Scottish Catholic Church urges Parishes to go Online

Computer Games help build child-parent relationships

Five Key Principles of an Effective Web Ministry  

New Faith-Based Computer Game Introduced for Vacation Bible School

Program to Reveal 'Real Face of Jesus' - Christianpost.com  

It's obvious computer technology is influencing all aspects of the church ministry and its people - from health care to mission work, family entertainment, education, church management, Bible study, and more. It's a very important topic that perhaps deserves to be highlighted and better reported on in this day and age.

Tell us what you think? Do you know of any good religious computer news web sites you's like to recommend to others?

Peter Groen

http://religion.cositech.net

Open Source Religious Software & Tools

Collaborative development efforts to create innovative, 'open source' software, information technology, and tools for religious organizations and individuals are well underway. These information technologies and tools are being released under one or more open source licensing arrangements that allow one to acquire and use these tools at little or no cost. This has tremendous potential consequences for individuals and religious organizations around the world facing funding challenges.

The following are links to selected web sites offering 'open source' software and tools for religious organizations and individuals.

Christian Software

·         Bible Time - A free and open source Bible study program.

·         ChurchBiz Online - Offering a variety of free solutions for churches, e.g. software, eBooks, music, and much more.

·         CrossWire Bible Software - A variety of open source religious software products for use on Laptops, Desktops, and SmartPhones.

·         Freshmeat Shareware - List of Bible related open source software on the Freshmeat web site.

·         SWORD Project - A Bible software development project that has created a range of related cross-platform open source tools.

·         TechMission Christian Software - A collection of freeware and open source software aimed at Christian organizations and individuals that includes church management software, ministry software, Bible study software, and more.

·         Ubuntu: Christian Edition – A free, open source operating system geared towards Christians. It is based on the popular Ubuntu Linux.

·         Xiphos - A popular open source Bible study software application.

Other Religious Software

·         Free Religious Software Download Manager - Offering a wide range of free software relative to most religions  that can be easily downloaded.

·         ITL – Open source Islamic software tools, e.g. Hijri calendar, prayer time reminder, etc.

·         Open Siddur Project - A collaborative open source project aimed at crafting and sharing siddur related content, software, and other materials.

·         Sabilly -   Operating system and software you need in your everyday tasks, customized specifically for Muslims.

·         Ubuntu Buddhist Remix – Buddhabuntu is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu, tailored for Buddhist users. It includes various Buddhist Scriptural study tools.

·         Zekr – Open source Qur’an study tool with Arabic and translations.

General Purpose 'Open Source' Software Tools

·         Apache Software - Originally known for being an open-source web server solution, it has now grown into a large collaborative software community with a wide range of complementary projects and products.

·         Drupal - A widely used open source content management system (CMS) for web sites.

·         JBOSS - An open source platform and development tools with everything you need to deploy, and host enterprise Java applications and services.

·         Linux - A widely used open source operating system for small and large scale computer systems originally created by Linus Torvalds

·         Mozilla & Firefox - A wide range of open source software products developed by the growing Mozilla 'open' development community. Products include the FireFox web browser, Thunderbird email system, Sea Monkey, etc.

·         MySQL - An open source database management system (DBMS) that offers the full functionality of similar commercial products such as MS SQL, DB2, Oracle, etc.

·         Open Office - A comprehensive open source software suite of office applications (e.g. word processing, spreadsheet, etc.) that provide very similar capabilities as MS Office.

·         SugarCRM - A commercialized open source customer relationship management (CRM) software suite.

·         Zimbra Collaboration - An open source email and calendar groupware software product.

The following are links to selected religious apps for mobile smartphones, e.g. iPhone, Blackberry, Android, etc.

Christian Apps

·         eBible PDA - Free Bible software and mobile apps for SmartPhones, PDAs, etc.

·         Olive Tree - Offering free eBooks, Bibles, study guides, mobile software apps for a range of mobile devices.

·         PocketSword - A free Bible study app for the iPhone & iPad that can be downloaded from iTunes.

Other Religious Apps

·         Buddhism Mobile Apps

·         Hinduism Mobile Apps

·         Islamic Mobile Apps

The following are links to web sites of selected development organizations focused on providing religious organizations and individuals with innovative 'open source' technology and tools.

·         CrossWire Bible Society - A resource pool to other Bible societies and Christian organizations that can't afford a programming staff or expensive commercial software tools

·         Global Media Outreach - Online missionaries using the Internet and information technology to reach people around the world.

·         Joshua Project -  A Christian research initiative seeking to gather data about the ethnic groups of people around the world and providing a range of free tools and digital technologies to assist in missionary efforts.

·         LightSys - dedicated to equipping Christian missions and ministries with the computer technology best suited to their needs, including the knowledge and contacts needed to support that technology.

·         Open Source Initiative - a non-profit corporation formed to educate about and advocate for the benefits of open source and to build bridges among different constituencies in the open source community.

·         TechMission - Uses innovative approaches to provide digital technology resources and solutions to meet needs in at-risk communities.

For more information about 'Open' Religious Software Tools and Technologies, visit the religion.cositech.net  web site.

Are you using any open source religious software or tools? Let us know about any solutions you would recommend to others.