It is a certainty that, at some point after my visit, everyone I visit will die. Recently, I seem to be hastening their demise. Out of all the people I have visited during my placement, approximately 50% have died within a month of me visiting. In one of my recent trips to the hospital, there was one seriously ill lady that I spent some time with. Well she has survived my visit, but the lady from my home congregation who was in the next bed died the other day. This is the sort of statistical pattern that would normally see police involvement. ""So Mr Gerbil, are you really expecting me to believe that all these people just happened to die after you visited...?"
This has just been the sort of season where there has been a lot of people who really needed a visit from a Minister. People who need the sort of comfort that they look to a Minister to provide, and there just hasn't been much time to drop round to random members of the congregation and catch up with things. It has certainly shown that there is a need for congregations to be active in pastoral visiting, and not just by the minister or the elders. If anything, it's teh pastoral side of things that I will be taking most from in this placement.
I would just rather not be in a position where, when I knock on the door, the person that answers says "Oh no! It's the Minister! I didn't know I was that sick!" (Just before they expire at my feet...)
Thursday 27 February 2014
Wednesday 26 February 2014
Matthew 5:41 (Or don't mess with history)
So the lesson on Sunday was about going the extra mile. I had an easy morning, only doing the readings, so I grabbed a bible from the vestry and read the words in front of me...
"And if one of the occupation troops forces you to carry his pack one kilometre, carry it two kilometres."*1
A kilometre? Excuse me? don't you mean...
"And if one of the occupation troops forces you to carry his pack one mile, carry it two miles."*2
Roman soldiers didn't march in kilometres. The kilometre wasn't going to be invented for another 1760 years. A Roman mile was 1000 paces, or if you must be metric, 1473 metres.
It's not a critical change, but nobody ever talks about going the extra kilometre. But it is a small reminder that not every bible translation is the same, and sometimes I may wish to read from another if it fits on the day.
*1 Good news translation, from the vestry.
*2 Good news translation, from Biblegateway
"And if one of the occupation troops forces you to carry his pack one kilometre, carry it two kilometres."*1
A kilometre? Excuse me? don't you mean...
"And if one of the occupation troops forces you to carry his pack one mile, carry it two miles."*2
Roman soldiers didn't march in kilometres. The kilometre wasn't going to be invented for another 1760 years. A Roman mile was 1000 paces, or if you must be metric, 1473 metres.
It's not a critical change, but nobody ever talks about going the extra kilometre. But it is a small reminder that not every bible translation is the same, and sometimes I may wish to read from another if it fits on the day.
*1 Good news translation, from the vestry.
*2 Good news translation, from Biblegateway
Monday 24 February 2014
Market Research
I was asked by an online survey to give an opinion on a piece of music which a major corporation is planning on using for a forthcoming advertising campaign. Here is what was in my head at the time.
Wind through the hair of a white horse. The horse is running through the surf of a white sandy beach - think Barra runway and you will be there. In the distance, there is a small church. Scottish reformed Presbyterian style. Very old, but more recently painted white. This is the destination the horse seeks. As the music rises to the finale, a young man appears from the door of the church. Probably in his late twenties, he has a worldly air about him, someone who has seen the highs and lows of the world, but has in some way became a better person for it. As he and the horse make eye contact, the horse draws close. They both pause outside the church. They make eye contact, acknowledging each others presence in the way old friends will do. Then they separate, but knowing that they will repeat their ritual the next day.
Online surveys can be fun. I will let you know if the bit of music makes it into circulation.
Wind through the hair of a white horse. The horse is running through the surf of a white sandy beach - think Barra runway and you will be there. In the distance, there is a small church. Scottish reformed Presbyterian style. Very old, but more recently painted white. This is the destination the horse seeks. As the music rises to the finale, a young man appears from the door of the church. Probably in his late twenties, he has a worldly air about him, someone who has seen the highs and lows of the world, but has in some way became a better person for it. As he and the horse make eye contact, the horse draws close. They both pause outside the church. They make eye contact, acknowledging each others presence in the way old friends will do. Then they separate, but knowing that they will repeat their ritual the next day.
Online surveys can be fun. I will let you know if the bit of music makes it into circulation.
Friday 14 February 2014
All You Need is Love
On this day when everything is love and pink and flowers and kittens, I thought I would offer an alternative for all the cynics who think this is just another day to sell greetings cards and overpriced jewellery.
You're welcome. :-)
You're welcome. :-)
Sunday 2 February 2014
Church Websites - Your Noticeboard.
In my post yesterday, I mentioned the importance of the church owning the website. When you buy a website, it comes in at least two bits. You pay someone to hold all the pages for your website on their computer, and you also pay to buy a domain name of your own. The name, for example www.wikipedia.org is the address someone will enter on their computer to take them to your web pages. When you buy the domain, you have to register a name and address, and these state who owns that address.
Anyone can buy a domain. I can buy yourchurch.com. You can buy mychurch.com. What often happens with churches, clubs and voluntary organisations is that a church member will buy theirchurch.com, but when they are asked for a name and address for the registration information, they give their own name and address. After all, it is going to be them that are administering the site.
So what happens if that person becomes unable to update the site, for whatever reason? Your church will have to takeover the site. If the webmaster dies, do you really want to be asking their widow to look around their computer for passwords? There's an organisation near here, fortunately not one I have had any involvement in, the webmaster fell out with and refused to hand over the web domain which was registered in his name. It meant that the official website was inaccessible and looking more and more out of date. They had to set up a whole new site.
You may wish to delegate the website administration, but the ownership and registration of the site must be in the name of the church. You need to be in a position where the login information is known to more than one person, just in case. Your website is as much your noticeboard as the one outside your church giving the service times. These days, if someone wants to find a new church, they Google for one. Your website doesn't need to be fancy or complicated, but you must have one, and you must at the very least say where you are, what type of you are and when your services are.
And just like the noticeboard on the wall, your church has to be fully responsible for keeping it maintained.
Anyone can buy a domain. I can buy yourchurch.com. You can buy mychurch.com. What often happens with churches, clubs and voluntary organisations is that a church member will buy theirchurch.com, but when they are asked for a name and address for the registration information, they give their own name and address. After all, it is going to be them that are administering the site.
So what happens if that person becomes unable to update the site, for whatever reason? Your church will have to takeover the site. If the webmaster dies, do you really want to be asking their widow to look around their computer for passwords? There's an organisation near here, fortunately not one I have had any involvement in, the webmaster fell out with and refused to hand over the web domain which was registered in his name. It meant that the official website was inaccessible and looking more and more out of date. They had to set up a whole new site.
You may wish to delegate the website administration, but the ownership and registration of the site must be in the name of the church. You need to be in a position where the login information is known to more than one person, just in case. Your website is as much your noticeboard as the one outside your church giving the service times. These days, if someone wants to find a new church, they Google for one. Your website doesn't need to be fancy or complicated, but you must have one, and you must at the very least say where you are, what type of you are and when your services are.
And just like the noticeboard on the wall, your church has to be fully responsible for keeping it maintained.
Saturday 1 February 2014
Church Websites and Their Ownership
Today's lesson is for those people who don't know much about having a website, and a pitfall your organisation may encounter. Before I go on with my situation, even if you don't read any further, please know the following:
This situation started a long time ago. A good few years ago now, a website was created for the church. The site was good for its day, but more recently it was starting to look a bit dated. There were a few website sins, like a busy background image, and some dead links. More seriously, the content was out of date. You were invited to contact the church about services that were no longer running, and there was a contact button that was taken out of use, with a note underneath it inviting you to phone the church instead due to the volumes of spam.
When I new I was to working there, the first thing I did was to Google the place. I was met with a website that looked a bit tired, and I thought that this was something I could offer to help with. OK, I'm no web design expert, but I had experience with Wordpress, and I thought I could give some assistance. I was told by my supervisor that I had best not, as someone else in the congregation saw the site as their pet project. No problems - I'm here to do the Ministry thing, not the Webmaster thing. The website has been one of those things that isn't the biggest thing for the church to be dealing with at the moment.
Some time around the start of December, the site disappeared completely, to be replaced by a holding page provided by the hosting company. I mentioned this to my supervisor, and he said he would look into it. Christmas came and went, and then on Tuesday of this week I received an email from my supervisor. The original webmaster wasn't that keen on progressing the website and I was to create a website for the church.
Knowing that the Treasurer had recently paid the hosting bill for the church, I sent him a quick email asking if he had account details for the hosting company. I needed to know what we were actually paying for in terms of space. He didn't have anything, and referred me back to the original webmaster. What I did know was that the domain was owned and paid for by the church.
Well I sent the webmaster an email asking if they could please give me the login information. In the webmaster's reply on Wednesday morning, they asked the purpose of the noticeboard I was to create. They said the original site was never intended to be a source of internal news, and suggested there were a number of forms of social media which would cover what I am trying to add. Note that at no point up until now have I discussed my plans for the site with them, having been asked not to by my supervisor. I was not given the requested login information.
I replied in a rather long email giving my plans for the site, and also how I felt it would be appropriate to move the church email over to @churchdomain.com. I closed with a further request for the login information.
Thursday was my regular supervision meeting, where we discussed plans for the website, and the reluctance to supply me with the appropriate login information. After my meeting I went to the church office and contacted the hosting company. They told me that they would supply me with the appropriate information. So when Friday morning came, and the company hadn't been in contact, I thought something was up. I had a quick look at the church domain, and the old website had reappeared. I phoned the hosting company and they told me the webmaster had been in contact, and allegedly he had told them that I wasn't part of the church. So the only way for me to get the login information was to send an email from the church office email account to the hosting company. Only then would they be happy to release the information.
The church office is a few miles away, but I went there, sent the appropriate email, and finally I obtained the correct information. My first action was to lock out any other users, followed by me creating a "coming soon" page instead of the old website. Finally I sent an email to the webmaster stating that I had taken control of the domain and that further information should come from the minister in the first instance.
I still have a feeling that this may run for a while, and may still cause me problems. Throughout all this, I have had the support of my supervisor, and I really appreciate the trust that he has placed in me.
****************************
This has actually been a reasonably good learning experience. I have came along when there has been a situation or conflict that has been brewing for quite some time. I have been given a task to do that will may require me to take one side to achieve an outcome. I have tried a reasonable approach, but I have been placed in a situation where I have had to take firm action and take control of the website. Nobody really wins here, and I will still have to work with the webmaster for other things in the future.
- Your church really does need a website. (I'll come to this in another post this week)
- Your church web domain must be registered in the name of the church, and not in the name of an individual.
- More than one person should know how to use and update your website, and they need to know the relevant passwords and login details.
This situation started a long time ago. A good few years ago now, a website was created for the church. The site was good for its day, but more recently it was starting to look a bit dated. There were a few website sins, like a busy background image, and some dead links. More seriously, the content was out of date. You were invited to contact the church about services that were no longer running, and there was a contact button that was taken out of use, with a note underneath it inviting you to phone the church instead due to the volumes of spam.
When I new I was to working there, the first thing I did was to Google the place. I was met with a website that looked a bit tired, and I thought that this was something I could offer to help with. OK, I'm no web design expert, but I had experience with Wordpress, and I thought I could give some assistance. I was told by my supervisor that I had best not, as someone else in the congregation saw the site as their pet project. No problems - I'm here to do the Ministry thing, not the Webmaster thing. The website has been one of those things that isn't the biggest thing for the church to be dealing with at the moment.
Some time around the start of December, the site disappeared completely, to be replaced by a holding page provided by the hosting company. I mentioned this to my supervisor, and he said he would look into it. Christmas came and went, and then on Tuesday of this week I received an email from my supervisor. The original webmaster wasn't that keen on progressing the website and I was to create a website for the church.
Knowing that the Treasurer had recently paid the hosting bill for the church, I sent him a quick email asking if he had account details for the hosting company. I needed to know what we were actually paying for in terms of space. He didn't have anything, and referred me back to the original webmaster. What I did know was that the domain was owned and paid for by the church.
Well I sent the webmaster an email asking if they could please give me the login information. In the webmaster's reply on Wednesday morning, they asked the purpose of the noticeboard I was to create. They said the original site was never intended to be a source of internal news, and suggested there were a number of forms of social media which would cover what I am trying to add. Note that at no point up until now have I discussed my plans for the site with them, having been asked not to by my supervisor. I was not given the requested login information.
I replied in a rather long email giving my plans for the site, and also how I felt it would be appropriate to move the church email over to @churchdomain.com. I closed with a further request for the login information.
Thursday was my regular supervision meeting, where we discussed plans for the website, and the reluctance to supply me with the appropriate login information. After my meeting I went to the church office and contacted the hosting company. They told me that they would supply me with the appropriate information. So when Friday morning came, and the company hadn't been in contact, I thought something was up. I had a quick look at the church domain, and the old website had reappeared. I phoned the hosting company and they told me the webmaster had been in contact, and allegedly he had told them that I wasn't part of the church. So the only way for me to get the login information was to send an email from the church office email account to the hosting company. Only then would they be happy to release the information.
The church office is a few miles away, but I went there, sent the appropriate email, and finally I obtained the correct information. My first action was to lock out any other users, followed by me creating a "coming soon" page instead of the old website. Finally I sent an email to the webmaster stating that I had taken control of the domain and that further information should come from the minister in the first instance.
I still have a feeling that this may run for a while, and may still cause me problems. Throughout all this, I have had the support of my supervisor, and I really appreciate the trust that he has placed in me.
****************************
This has actually been a reasonably good learning experience. I have came along when there has been a situation or conflict that has been brewing for quite some time. I have been given a task to do that will may require me to take one side to achieve an outcome. I have tried a reasonable approach, but I have been placed in a situation where I have had to take firm action and take control of the website. Nobody really wins here, and I will still have to work with the webmaster for other things in the future.
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