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UMCom provides digital solutions, enhances technological offerings

Jul. 18, 2005

NOTE: Photographs and video clips are available at http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Feature
By Joey Butler and Linda Green*

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--United Methodist Communications has a "digital
solution" to help every congregation in the denomination fulfill its
mission of making disciples.

On July 18, the communications agency launched Digital Solutions, a
network of tools and services to assist local churches of all sizes,
annual conferences and other ministries to communicate efficiently and
effectively.

Digital Solutions is United Methodist Communications' expanded
technological offerings to help digitally connect the entire
denomination and to provide affordable ways for churches to use the
Internet to enhance their ministries. It includes an upgraded UMC.org,
the official denominational site, with new content and features to
enable churches to minister in a digital way.

"It's clear that the future of ministry in the church is going to be, in
part, through providing digital information to people," said the Rev.
Larry Hollon, UMCom's chief executive.	"It is really a personal
experience. It is a relationship through technology to the church and to
its history and even to other people."

The new array of products and services represents a major new
initiative, one that effectively positions TechShop, UMCom's computer
hardware and software provider, as the most comprehensive digital
services provider for United Methodist churches in the United States, he
said.

"The Digital Solutions effort is a step toward the fulfillment of the
mandate given to UMCom by the General Conference several years ago to
wire the church," Hollon said.

"The opportunity for us to be connected as a church and to extend the
community of faith has never been as great as it is today," he added.
"It is a joy for United Methodist Communications to be in a position to
assist local churches to develop Web sites, purchase new equipment and
underwrite ministry in new ways."

Through is Central Conference Communications initiative, UMCom is also
helping conferences outside the United States enhance their ability to
communicate in culturally and technologically appropriate ways

The new packages provided by the communications agency include movie,
music and book reviews, United Methodist News Service syndication,
Web-building tools, church management tools and online training
resources.

New products give local churches the ability to develop worship
materials, prepare presentations, create newsletters and e-mail
messages, locate church organizations and simplify the completion of
forms and reports as well as track congregational life.

Digital technology is "a gift from God," Hollon said, noting that three
out of five Internet users go to the World Wide Web to learn more about
their faith.  Statistics from the Pew Internet and American Life Project
report that 64 percent of the 128 million Internet users in the United
States go online for religious and spiritual matters.

"The Web is a virtual community where we should be sharing God's love,"
he said.

The agency provides a variety of affordable computer hardware and
software to United Methodist organizations through TechShop. Through
partnerships with the world's leading technology companies, the agency
sells to churches, at deep discount, high quality laptop and desktop
computers preloaded with all the software needed to set up an office.
The ministry has saved congregations nearly $20 million in the past five
years.

TechShop, in conjunction with a number of United Methodist agencies,
also offers a wide range of Web site content for churches. Users can
regularly update content from sources such as The Upper Room, United
Methodist News Service and the recently updated UMC.org.

The "refreshed" UMC.org increases functionality and is more
user-friendly. It is the first step in a total redesign scheduled for
early 2006.

The update responds to the need for quick links and better search
capability, according to Hollon. The reformatted site features a flash
or story rotator, which can display five different stories, and drop
down menus from the navigation bar at the top of the site.

Hollon said he hopes the new site will be easier for Web users to
access.

"I'm hoping that it will mean a great deal of change in that the search
function will be more extensive than it is now," he explained. "We would
like to move to a global search option that would allow people to go to
Google and say, 'I want to find this about the United Methodist Church'
and they would be able to do that. And that would direct them to our Web
site, as well as the Web sites of other boards and agencies."

One new product, the Small Church Computer Program, provides
small-membership churches with a computer and all of the software needed
to perform administrative tasks or publish newsletters.

Another computer software package included in Digital Solutions helps
churches manage their ministries. The Ministry Management Tools features
a small group management system, an events management module, a business
directory, membership tracking and statistical tracking.

"Our digital solutions ministry includes much more than equipment,"
Hollon said. "Its purpose is extending the ministry of the local
church."

The agency offers both online and face-to-face workshop training in Web
ministry. More than 2,000 church leaders have been trained in the use of
digital technology

UMCom describes itself as a leader in offering Internet based solutions
to local churches. The Ezekiel Website building program allows anyone
with basic computer skills to develop and maintain a church Website.
Available to United Methodist organizations, Ezekiel simplifies Web site
development and guides Web site builders through common chores, without
requiring them to know computer language.

Six thousand churches are already using Ezekiel to manage their web
ministries, according to Hollon.  "It is an inexpensive, easy-to-use Web
solution for local churches of all sizes and budgets."

The technological revolution has created new opportunities for churches,
including using church steeples as sources of income.  Cellular
telephone companies are seeking place for their antennas and have found
steeples to be great locations.

A partnership between SteepleCom, a company that matches churches and
telecommunications companies, and UMCom offers churches the opportunity
to lease steeple space for wireless antennas to relay cell phone calls.
Information from the denomination's Find-A-Church database, administered
by UMCom, is used to determine geographical coordinates that SteepleCom
shares with Verizon, Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile and other companies as
possible antenna sites.

The Digital Solutions package is available at www.techshopministry.org.
For more information, contact TechShop at (888) 346-3862 or e-mail
techshop@umcom.org.

*Butler is managing editor of Interpreter Magazine and Interpreter
OnLine. Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in
Nashville, Tenn.

News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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