We have a number of ministries and activities at Bethany involving many members of our congregation. We also have access to web-based communication tools. This page describes these tools and suggests how Bethany ministries can make use of them to accomplish work more easily and efficiently. The point of online communication tools is to supplement the in-person meetings and discussions and make it easier for participants to be informed, to participate in discussions, and to share ideas. I hope you find this page useful.
Rude Q & A
- I hate computers and prefer to do everything in person. So I won’t participate. Well, ok, then I guess this conversation is over. Or, you can read the rest of this page and then make an informed decision. The point is not to REPLACE face to face meetings and discussions. The point is to SUPPORT AND ENHANCE our face-to-face engagement.
- Google is the root of everything evil in this world. Yes, Google is a huge profit focused company bent on world domination. That said, we can use what they provide for free to get stuff done easier. Yes, Google profits from advertising and etc. from our using their services. However, the benefits arguably outweigh the costs.
- I value my privacy and worry about anything that gets put online. You’re smart to value your privacy. You can use online services in a smart way that protects your privacy. Some of these privacy concerns are discussed below.
- I prefer hard copy of everything. I want everyone to have a hard copy of my ideas. I like to print stuff. What’s that? I think I hear a tree sobbing in the forest. Honestly though, we are a congregation that has stated our interest in sustainable living and respect for the environment. Through smart use of FREE online resources, we can communicate better AND save natural resources!
Other rude questions? Send them to webmaster@bethanyseattle.org and I will try to answer them the best I can.
Private Email Lists
Our website includes a Google Applications installation that among other things, hosts email addresses for the pastor, the office manager, children’s faith coordinator, and other personnel. Google allows us to host email lists that provide handy email addresses for sending mail to groups of Bethany congregation members. For example, the weekly emails sent from the Bethany office go to an email list, congregation@bethanyseattle.org, that includes all of our congregation members. We can set up email lists for any group of people at Bethany who are interested in participating in email discussions about their activities.
What are email lists? They provide a single email address that can be used to address a group of people. For example, email sent to board@bethanyseattle.org is received by all current Bethany board members.
Why use an email list for your ministry activity? The email list provides a single, easy to remember email name that organizes the current group of people who wish to receive email about an activity. Rather than drafting an email address and adding the email addresses individually, you can just send email to the list, and all the interested people will receive it. As people are added to or removed from the group, the email list can be updated, so that people who WANT to get email will get the email, and people who don’t want to receive the emails will not. This eliminates the “take me off this discussion!” problem and also, the “oops, I forgot jane@doe.com again!”
What about spam and privacy issues? We can set up the email lists as private lists. This means that only people included in the list will be able to send email to the list. Also, only the Bethany office administrator and website administrator can view the list of email addresses. Thus, your email address will not be shared with anyone publicly. For example, the congregation@bethanyseattle.org email address is “locked down” so that nobody except the Bethany office administrator can send email to it. This eliminates “reply-all” or other situations in which chatty responses or complaints go out to everybody. For the ministry lists, they are confined to the people who are currently on the list. Someone on the list can send email to everyone, but somebody not on the list cannot.
How do I create or modify an email list? Just send a request to webmaster@bethanyseattle.org, and we will create or modify your list as you ask.
Online Calendars
Bethany has an online events calendar accessible on this very website: http://bethanyseattle.org/events. If you have Gmail, you can link Bethany’s calendar to your own calendar, and see Bethany events alongside your own appointments and birthday reminders. Google Calendars are awesome. They can be published and shared so that multiple people can be up to date about upcoming events and tasks. At the very least, please add your ministry events to the Bethany events calender. Just email the office and your event can be added to the bulletin, the weekly announcements email, and to the events calendar.
Online Document Sharing
Gmail offers online documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and other documents. It’s easy to create a “google doc” and share it with the world. For example, if a group of people are trying to agree on an agenda for an event, the event organizer can create a “google doc”, publish it as a public web page, and send a link to everyone. This is better than emailing a Word doc for the following reasons:
- You don’t have to worry about which version of Word everyone has — eliminating responses such as “I can’t open this document you sent me”.
- The document is stored online, so when you update it, everyone can view the updates — eliminating the need to email a revised document around to everyone, and then having confusion about who got it, which version everyone is looking at, etc.
For example, here is a link to a simple Google Doc that I published as a web page. It’s accessible to everyone on the internet! http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgsjrdkd_15hgmgzshm. Here’s another example of an online spreadsheet.
What about privacy? Don’t publish anything that is going to cause privacy concerns. For example, leave out people’s full names, phone numbers, email addresses, etc. This is a great tool for publishing agendas, drafts of mission statements, event plans, etc.
How does this save time for my ministry team? Like the email based discussions, it lets your members communicate and share ideas in between meetings. Build consensus for your ideas, discuss over email, revise the document and send out a notice about the new draft being available. People can always go to the link you created to view the most up to date version.
What do I need? You need a Gmail account or Google account. See the signup links at the bottom of this page.
Bethany Ministry Teams Site
We have hosted on our site a “wiki” for the Bethany ministry teams. A wiki is a website that you can easily add to, edit, and share. This teams site is different from the online document sharing, in that it requires a login. Because it is protected, it is a good place to put more personal information such as contact lists. It is also an organized and “permanent” place to keep documents, procedures, plans and policies for your ministry team.
It is here: https://sites.google.com/a/bethanyseattle.org/ministries
Should we use the ministry teams site? Yes, you definitely should! Use it to keep long-lived information such as standard procedures, information, contact lists, etc. For example, the Hospitality team probably has a standard procedure for meal setup and cleanup. The ministry teams site would be a great place to store this. You can keep it up to date. When you get a new person added to the team, they can easily review it.
How does this site help Bethany? If it gets used, it will provide a one-stop “repository” for all the ministry teams to share information. Anyone involved in ministries at Bethany can view the site, make comments and suggestions, and post pages. If it doesn’t get used, it won’t help anyone!
What about privacy? The site requires an invitation and login. You need a Google account to have access. Still, we shouldn’t post anything up there we wouldn’t be comfortable discussing at church on Sunday. Obviously, gossip, innuendo, complaints targeting specific people, etc. would not be great things to post on the site.
How do I get access? Send email to webmaster@bethanyseattle.org to be added. Or, you might be sent an invitation.
The Bethany Public Website
Hey, you’re here already! Our website, http://bethanyseattle.org, is a great place to post information about your ministry teams activities! Articles, announcements, pictures, etc. are all great contributions that help outsiders learn more about our church!
Guerilla Marketing
As we host events and organize activities that we think that people outside our church may be interested in, we should be thinking about publicizing these events using the Internet! Here are some ideas:
- Craigslist community postings: People really love Craigslist. There are community forums where you can advertise your events. You can publish links in the Craigslist posting to, for example, an announcement page on the Bethany website.
- Local Blogs: Bethany advertises in two local blogs: the Rainier Valley Post and the Beacon Hill Blog. Send an event announcement and they are very likely to publish it.
- Facebook: Those of us who are “on Facebook,” have friends on Facebook. Encourage your ministry team members to post notes about what they are doing on behalf of Bethany, and to post announcements of Bethany events that outsiders may enjoy. Sometimes our friends don’t even know we go to church!
How to get yourself a Google account
Most of the above requires a Google account. If you already have a Gmail email account, you already have a Google account. If you don’t have Gmail, then go here to create a Google account for yourself:
https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount
Set up the account something like this:
You will need to supply your email address and password. They want a birthdate only to verify that you are not 13. You can put in a bogus birthdate if you want, as shown in the above example.
Once you are logged into your account, you will see links across the top for various things, including Documents.