Online outreach

Increasingly, churches are embracing innovation solutions to improve communications, consolidate information, reduce operating costs and create a slick, user-friendly, interactive portal to the life of the congregation -- a permeable virtual facade meant to compliment the physical mechanisms of the church.

The Web product is particularly so then-suited for Seacoast and other large churches whose membership includes the research-savvy. Nevertheless more and more parishioners of all ages are using social media, Singleton and many others said.

"With religion, you want to feel connected," said Doug Ferguson, a communication professor at the College of Charleston who studies social media. "So anything that makes it easier to connect is going to be welcomed."

The electronification of religion has been pursuant to this agreement way for years, however it wasn't until the phenomenon known as "Web 2.0" became the dominant mode of Internet use that churches were able to begin realizing their missions online.

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that's written and maintained by anyone, is an early example of Web 2.0 in action. Examples of the way the Internet is used these days includes social media sites just as Facebook, video-sharing sites just as YouTube, and the ominous-sounding "cloud," in which software, data access and storage and computing processes are available to people who need not have any particular knowledge of where the information resides or how it is transmitted.

The City made it possible for Seacoast members to advance the goals of their small-group ministries and make communication between small groups, "coaches" and pastors more efficient, he said.

The embrace of innovation

Before the embrace of innovation, "there was no good way to spread information through these channels without balls getting dropped," Singleton said.

"Even if someone is 60 years old, they've grown up with some sort of innovation," Singleton said. "My mom talked with her friends on the telephone. My wife as well communicates with her friends, however on Facebook or by text messaging."

The change in innovation has many talking about the pros and cons of a digital age that facilitates instant gratification, bombards people with information and appears, until further notice to some, to reduce meaningful human interaction to a few clicks of the mouse.

The moral dimension of Web 2

The moral dimension of Web 2.0 is what Pope Benedict XVI addressed in his Jan. 24 message, "Truth, Proclamation and Authenticity in the Digital Age," prepared in advance of the Catholic Church's 45th World Day of Social Communications on June 5.

New research is causing "vast cultural transformation," the pope wrote. "New horizons are however open that were until recently unimaginable; they stir our wonder at the possibilities offered by these new media and, together, urgently demand a serious reflection on the significance of communication in the digital age."

The new emphasis on innovation doesn't always sit so then with everybody, even though. First Baptist's membership is wide-ranging and includes many who are indifferent or even hostile to social media, "so trying to find our balance is kind of difficult," Polk said.

Online, members can access rabbis Laura Baum and Robert Barr, listen to teachings, get educational materials, network with others and participate in discussions. No geographical boundaries are observed. People who live in communities without a progressive synagogue can find fellowship online, 24/7.