Hey Churches: Free Stuff

Anyone who’s worked with a church website can tell you: The hardest part isn’t coming up with the ideas, it’s coming up with the funding. In an age where web applications are expanding how people connect with each other, there are so many things you’d love to do with your website: Sermon podcasts, blogs, classifieds, small groups…but who has the money, and who has the time?

A lot of churches are finding clever ways to get interactive tools for free: establishing presence on Myspace, joining Facebook, and posting on YouTube, but while these solutions are certainly trendy, they don’t quite fit the actual needs most churches have.

Enter MyChurch.org, a Web 2.0 service focused on church community.

My review is after the jump:

MyChurch’s range of tools is pretty spot-on: Practically a wishlist of features for most churches. Above and beyond just the blog/photos/media model, MyChurch enables members to keep in touch, invite friends, and contribute to your church’s presence on the web.

Some highlights:

Sermons: Sermon audio, video, and accompanying documents are a snap to upload and share with your church.

Events Calendar: MyChurch’s event calendar not only has an evite-like RSVP feature, but great little quicklinks for inviting more friends, blogging about the event, or emailing the information. It’s a really smart touch, and a great way to put church marketing in the hands of church members.

Member Profiles: Here, MyChurch tries to replicate a little MySpace functionality with “about me” info and personal photos. As with most social networking services, members can “friend” each other and leave comments on profiles.

Church Groups: Once you have some members, it’s time to make some groups. Members can communicate inside forums for their groups, and set levels of privacy depending on needs.

(Sorry to link three times to Calvary Community Church in Columbia MD, but these guys are really putting some work into their page. Good job, CCC!)

MyChurch also has a keen eye for church marketing opportunities, building in features that help people find you, listen to your sermons, and forward to friends. Users can search for churches using a clever Google Maps application, or with conventional terms like ZIP codes and church names.

Of course, there are a few drawbacks:

First, you’re sending users away from your site and to a third-party system, which they’ll need to make a whole new login for. Adding additional hurdles to the user experience is never easy, and leads to less patient/tech-savvy members “dropping off” in the transition between sites.
Second, while MyChurch is free, storing more than 100MB of data (roughly 15 sermons) will require a $12/month upgrade (although, brilliantly, MyChurch allows your members to “sponsor” the upgrade).
Third, MyChurch doesn’t seem to have any API or RSS support yet, meaning developers can’t dynamically integrate it with your site (no “recent sermons” or “new members” automatically appearing on your homepage).

But for most churches with limited technology resources, MyChurch seems like a perfect shot in the arm: A quick way to fire up your church’s community and get some real interactivity on the web. Go check it out!

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Why am I so interested in this?

Because: Here at SP, we look hard for inexpensive, pluggable tools that custom-fit the churches we serve. Each church has unique needs that require clever answers, but which don’t always justify expensive and risky built-from-scratch solutions, solutions that lock the churches into technology platforms for life.

Instead, we find ways to build free, stable web apps into our sites; applications that reduce downtime, maintenance costs, and setup fees.

Some quick examples:

• Using GMaps for a dynamic map with directions and multiple locations.
• Tweaking the open-source platform Wordpress into a podcasting tool.
• Turning the free service Flickr into an on-site gallery solution and image archive.
• Making a WordPress plugin for an easy-to-use, community-friendly classifieds tool.
• Constructing a small-groups finder using Google Maps.
• Working with Google Calendar as a robust multiple-calendar system.

And more: We’ve found solutions for turning your Excel directory into a browseable online member list, turning Facebook groups into online directories, and mashing members’ blog entries into one readable blog on your site (or in your members-only area). All these ideas, at their core, are focused on transforming free technology into great tools, and saving your money for bigger challenges.

If your church would like any suggestions or advice for adding some custom, future-forward solutions to your site, just drop us a line.