Blogs Slowly Growing in Popularity in Presbyterian Church

While the General Assembly has long had its PCUSA website as a signpost on the web and the Presbyterian News Service to publish national and international news of interest to congregations, Web 2.0 is slowly beginning to make inroads in the provision of breaking news, information, and commentary at the local and regional levels. Websites are more rigid by nature and so have difficulty providing a steady stream of media content. Websites will continue to serve their purpose, but blogs are likely to play more of a role in active churches and presbyteries.

At the presbytery level, it is difficult to keep a website current. Monmouth Presbytery has a relatively moribund website these days, probably because there is no funding to staff people to keep up with all of the announcements and calendar items for a large presbytery, much less 50+ churches. It's certainly not a webmaster's job to add content. You'll notice that the presbytery is experimenting with a new Mission Cafe blog, which delivers some content but also calls for local churches to contribute mission news and commentary. For example, they are looking for mission stories from local congregations. See what Forked River, Jacksonville,  Lakewood - Hope, and Point Pleasant have shared to get ideas of what Matawan might contribute in the future.

The NJ Hunger Action and Advocacy ministry, which is sponsored by Monmouth Presbytery and New Brunswick Presbytery, has launched a new blog. The Monmouth Presbytery Hunger and Environment blog was a beginning, but a more regional blog seems to serve them better. If you're interested, ask Loril or a member of the Mission Commission how you can participate in presbytery level mission work like our Hunger and Environment Program.

The local churches have been slow to adapt blogs. Many don't even have a website yet. Our church has a website and is experimenting with this blog. Check with Evangelism Commission if you're interested in contributing content, either one time or on a regular basis. Content can be stories, travel logs, digital photographs, or interviews. Some folks don't like to write but are willing to be interviewed for a story, so if you know the story or can get the story, you can help with blogging.

Here's a short video to explain blogging to those who are unfamiliar.