Computer savvy

Christian Century, Feb 7, 2001 by Nancy S. Armstrong, Aaron R. Spiegel, John R. Wimmer

HAS THE ADVENT of the Internet and computer technology led congregations toward the "virtual church," undermining the face-to-face relationships that have long characterized congregational life? Two recent studies, one supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the other by the Indianapolis Center for Congregations, suggest not. The vast majority of congregations using and experimenting with computer technology and the Internet are not promoting aberrations of Christian or congregational life. Rather, they are using computer technologies to enhance and promote traditional ministries: worship, fellowship, pastoral care, education, mission and community outreach, evangelism and communications.

Congregations are using computer technology primarily in these areas: administration and finance, communications, learning labs, and multimedia presentations for worship and education.

* Administration and finance. Congregations have been using Congregational Management Software (CMS) since the early 1980s. A host of companies market CMS packages designed to aid churches in budgeting and accounting, tracking members and constituents, cataloging volunteer interests and gifts, recording attendance and scheduling activities. Thousands of congregations are functioning more efficiently and effectively because they use CMS technology.

We have worked with scores of churches that had, for instance, until recently kept a typewritten list of members in the church office, financial records in a software format on the volunteer treasurer's home computer, and correspondence on the church secretary's PC, with no effective way to share or integrate the information each cache contained. (And the person most often left in the dark was the pastor) Any of the major CMS packages can help consolidate and integrate such information.

These databases can do much more than provide mailing labels for the church newsletter One church, for example, keeps on its database significant dates in the lives of its members and families. This reminds the pastoral staff of important occasions that might be forgotten if left to faulty human memory. By tracking the date of the death of a spouse, for instance, CMS can remind pastors to call or to send a letter or card to the widow or widower on the anniversary of the loss. CMS is also widely used to track members' financial stewardship, and the database provides an easy way to document members' contributions at tax time.

Database and management software also assists churches as they engage in outreach and mission. A Missionary Baptist church in Indianapolis has for years been giving away thousands of pairs of shoes to children in need with the help of a network of retail stores that donate surplus inventory. But because the church had no effective way of tracking the names, addresses and circumstances of the children from year to year, families had to take the initiative to find the program. The church is now using a sophisticated database system, installed on laptop computers, to keep track of donors and recipients. It now can keep inventory information about the shoes, track information about each child in the program from year to year, and take the initiative in ministering to the families. The church is also considering ways to use this information to provide other ministries to these families.

* Communications. Desktop publishing has allowed churches to improve the quality and appearance of worship bulletins, newsletters, correspondence, flyers, posters, sermons and other educational or devotional materials. But the most important computer technology for congregational communications is e-mail and other Internet-related modes of communication. A whopping 91 percent of the respondents in the Pew report "Wired Churches and Wired Temples" said that e-mail has helped clergy and church members to promote fellowship and community-building communication and is used for such typical parish activities as sharing prayer concerns, coordinating committee meetings and providing spiritual advice and support.

When the pastor of a United Methodist church in Indianapolis asked during a worship service if anyone would be interested in receiving a weekly devotional e-mail, he was flooded with e-mail addresses from members who wanted to take part in the ministry. These members began to forward the devotions to their friends, neighbors and co-workers, launching an unexpected ministry that has grown into a significant outreach for the church. This ministry has opened many opportunities for witness, counseling and inviting people to take part in the church's fellowship life.

The influence of e-mail on internal communications, particularly among church staff, is also significant. (Again, in the Pew study an overwhelming 97 percent of respondents from churches with "high access" to Internet communications said that e-mail "helped congregational staff and members stay in touch.")

A large Baptist church had seven staff members, all with computers and printers on their desks--but each computer had its own modem and phone line, requiring each staff person to access his or her own personal America Online account to use e-mail. Because of schedules, the mixture of part-time and full-time staff, and the scattering of staff offices all over the vast church building, communication between and among staff was entirely ad hoc, ineffective and inefficient. Their computers were incompatible, and the staff members thought that they were incompatible with each other as well. When the church installed new computers connected to a local area network and to an Internet service provider, the staff was astonished at how much its internal communications improved. Moreover, the monthly fee to connect the church as a whole to the Internet was much less than the individual AOL accounts had been.