Today’s technology impacts every level of care delivery in this chain. Web 2.0-based technologies make it easy and affordable for a church to empower a MySpace-type Web community within the church environment. Imagine the power of people connecting with others throughout the week. What if your church members could get to know one another every single day? Using these tools, church members can create and manage personal profiles using a point-and-click interface without any programming skill.

What would happen on Sundays if your pastor actually knew what was going on in people’s lives before he or she was told? Everyone has a desperate need to be known. Online tools can also help facilitate bridging the identity gap for people at church.

Blogs can be used to share information throughout the church, to provide procedures and training downward, or to share learning experiences among peers. For example, what if your small-group members recorded their groups’ stories in a blog format? That content can be easily shared throughout the church. Additionally, it can be used as a training tool for other small-group leaders. If small-group leaders begin sharing their stories, it will provide vision to other small-group leaders to take risks in relationships, disciple small-group members to do greater things and provide a sample of care provision in the church.

Using traditional means, communication can also be challenging. Conversely, discussion boards, instant messaging and forums can be used to flatten typically vertical communication channels. It’s very possible for a pastor to participate in a forum string with an average-Joe church attendee. Church members can participate in online conversations with the lead pastor and other church members without posting the pastor’s e-mail address.

Pastors can use powerful training tools online, as well. Podcasts, for example, can be used to transfer best practices and knowledge without requiring small-group leaders to all be in the same place. Small-group leaders can download and listen to training videos or audio clips at their own pace when it works for them. Forums and commenting will empower users to then discuss the content online, add to it and share it with other small-group leaders.

Defining and setting curriculum is also very easy online. File-management tools enable users to share documents over the Web. Homework can be set and delivered. Group members can then exchange their ideas related to the homework and essentially participate in an online marketplace of ideas.

As church members read and post content, and as they meet other church members and participate in online communities, relationships are being fostered. As relationships are being built, the overall vision of community is being executed. As members get more and more involved in their churches, they have a tendency to stay longer and remain under their pastors’ teaching. This leads to better discipleship and more service. All of these efforts, personal profiles — online small-group management, blogs, forums, instant messaging, audio and video — work to draw people into “real” relationship.

Tony Ferraro is a lay pastor to a church with about 2,800 attendees and 150 small groups. He is also president and CEO of Riverside, Calif.-based 360Hubs. The company is the developer of 360Connected Church, a Web 2.0-based online collaboration solution that creates relationship-oriented communities to connect churches with their community members – all within a safe, protected and easy-to-use Web environment. For more information, call 888.360.4827 or visit www.360hubs.com.