ShareMyTestimony.org Can Help Give Your Congregation A Voice
I got an e-mail a recently from Justin Carboneau who runs a site called ShareMyTestimony.org, which gives people a place to "share their temoimony about how they came to have faith in Christ". What's very nice about their site is that they offer a customizable widget that you can place on your site.
So, on your church website, you could place this widget somewhere to allow congregation members to share their testimonies with each other and the world. They only have to put up as much information as they feel comfortable (and aliases can be used instead of real names),so it's not a security risk either. The "Report as Inappropriate" feature is also nice in case the feature is abused as well.
What's nice about it is that it get's people involved and invested in the church website when they get to share a bit of themselves. While giving a visitor some insert into the makeup of the congregation, it also alows members to get to know one another on a deeper level. Very useful and powerful stuff!
Kudos to Justin, for putting together such a convenient and useful widget. This is a great way to start getting that community feel into your church website if you haven't already.
And if you'd like to know a little more about Justin, here is his testimony!
This is really interesting, thanks, especially in regards to the Yorkshire church and its impact on Sunday attendance.
(PS: I am having trouble with your feed since your blog host changed, http://www.ifjesushadawebsite.net/IJHAWFeed.xml" target="_top">http://www.ifjesushadawebsite.net/IJHAWFeed.xml used to work, but now only the feedburner link is working. Perhaps you need to make this clear or use a redirect as I can see 3 or so people who subscribe via bloglines (like myself) who are not getting the updates, cheers).
Cool, glad you have it working. I wasn't quite sure whether I was right as I know you have a clever blogginhg solution here. Not the usual wordpress setup.
Keep up the interesting posts, especially now we can follow them again.
(Later, less interesting point: you could place a custom xml feed file at the location I linked to above, so that anyone who was on the old feed would receive the new info and know to change).
You're right David, that's some of the stuff I deal with using a homebrewed solution.
Good suggestion though. I've placed it there so everyone can find their way.