Equipping The Church To Effectively Use Tech
Posted on August 15, 2007
It has been an interesting time over the last 4 or 5 days. I have helped a couple of different people in the church with their own computers, just doing basic cleanup of viruses and spyware and that kind of thing and in the process, we have had plenty of time to chat. Both of these people are long time church members, so for me, still being the new kid in town, so to speak, it was fascinating to hear their stories and learn more about the history of our church. There are so many stories of events that took place that you will only hear from those that were there.
On a somewhat related note, I have had an idea that’s been rolling around in my head since the last PC Workshop. It’s obvious that people want to know more and understand more about their computers. People are always asking me about all kinds of different things related to their computer, how to do something, how to fix something, there’s really no limit on what people want to know. I am all for helping and answering questions and I would rather teach someone how to do something rather than just do it for them. For example, there are some simple things that anyone can do to prevent spyware and viruses, yet most people either don’t bother or just don’t know.
Sometime in the near future, and it may not actually occur until October or November, I’m going to ask people in my church to submit questions that they have about computers, through the website, in a box at the welcome center, email me or whatever. They could even ask me to my face. I will compile the list and some Saturday morning, we will all come together and work down the list and I will teach people the things they want to know. I have asked 4 people recently if they would be interested in something like this, including the two this week and they all said yes, definitely.
Has anyone done this before? I would love to hear about it if you have.
This is really just another way to equip the church to effectively use technology.
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I’ve suggested a few times that our church tech people do a “tech update” or “5 minutes of tech” at our monthly staff lunches. Has not happened yet.
It get frustrating to me when office personnel and others come to me, not the tech guy, to “fix” their machine or “help” them discover what goofy thing they did to wind up where they currently are.
Great idea to ask for tech questions and then answer them routinely.
Might even introduce that to our staff myself!
I attempted the same thing with our website rollout. We built it up in announcements, offered a walk thru after church, etc, but I have found that this was a better option for us…
http://www.metronorthpca.org/TechMinistryTNG.htm
we just direct them to this website…. …
That’s a great idea, Derek! As we are building our church’s website, I have already said I want a tech ministry page, yet didn’t really have a vision for it yet. I will be getting familiar with what you have done and use that as a guide for what I want.
Thanks for the link!
hi i enjoyed the read
I have discussed it with others before and the idea was shot down at our church.
In a large church like this there was the concern that once people got the idea that they could bring their computers in for checkups we would be continually swamped. Then we would be unable to get our regular work done.
With the large number of computers we would need other people helping, and there is no guarantee of quality. There would be liability issues (not necessarily legal issues, but we would be blamed for all future problems).
A suggestion I added in was finding someone in the church who did computer support for a living and having them work on this with the volunteering helpers. When classes and helping was completed then that person gives out their business card with special “Church Member Rates” listed or perhaps the regular rates along with a coupon.
This is advertising for him, and ministry for you.