Preston Jones March 17, 2014 RLST 245

Church and Convenience

Religious organizations are not dissimilar from companies and other organizations. In order for a church to be sustainable in its existence, there needs to be source of income, which comes from attendance and membership. There are currently over 350,000 religious organizations in the United States alone1, and they all need membership and income to survive. Religious organizations use various methods to boost membership, and have greatly evolved over the past millennium. This paper will explore how religion is quick to utilize new technology in order to increase membership because of the growing popularity and convenience of technology. Religious organizations evolved to provide entertainment and lifestyle value, similar to the evolution of technology. This paper will examine the church, First Assembly of God, a church based in Hawaii with six locations and a serious online presence.

Printing and its information revolution. Johannes Gutenberg is credited with the invention of the printing press in Europe around 1450. His project was to use the printing press to print 200 bibles that were sold at the Frankfurt

http://hirr.hartsem.edu/research/fastfacts/fast_facts.html

Book Fair of 1455.2 These books were extremely expensive and costed about three years pay for an average clerk. However, the printing press widened the availability of books, which were previously handwritten by monks and other academics. By preserving knowledge in a new standardized form that became widely available and more affordable, this paved the way for advances in information technology, eventually leading to the most influential information source of information today, the internet.
Printing Press circa 1568 from Meggs History of Graphic Design (2011)

The Internet Era and Religion Technology has a direct connection to the personal and professional lives of people living in the 21st century. iPhones, iPads, Androids, the internet, and even personal computers create community and extend our personal selves into the cyber realm. With the use of our interconnected devices, we network with each other across the room, or even with other people around the world. Churches use the internet for what it was designed to do, connect with people online, creating communities without physical boundaries. Utilizing entities like the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, hundreds of apps are available for anyone, catering to the needs of people all over the world of various faiths. The use of social media like Facebook and Twitter,

http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/press.html

help these organizations extend their reach to many people, bringing excitement and support for

The official Twitter page for Pope Francis

religious organizations and faiths. Extensions of the Self As the internet and electronic devices serve as an extension of us as people, it also applies to companies and organizations. The way that a company presents itself has a great effect on their consumer base. Just as posting pictures of you at a party that Saint Patricks Day weekend may cause some judgement in your public presence, a companys social media page does the same thing. Religious organizations also come under the same scrutiny in the public view, therefore their online presence must appeal to current and future members. In addition to providing a service, churches also provide a sense of community that is both online and offline.

The First Assembly of God Homepage Right from the start, a call to action phrase is present. Arise and Walk, three words long and incredibly vague, it could mean a variety of things to a lot of people. Considering that the photo background is that of the Leeward side of Oahu, the photo will resonate with people that are of Hawaii, and people who find Hawaii appealing. The website is extensive with many drop down menus, and pages. There are also links to partnered websites as well as a Facebook social plugin right on the homepage. The Facebook social plugin utilizes the viewers cookies in order to access information on their Facebook page, looking for friends of the viewer to personalize the page to show how popular the page is with the current users community.

A church always needs new members and that need is definitely prominent in the
First Assembly of God Homepage, Part 1

webpage. There are two buttons linking to their New Visitors page, on the far left of the page on both the top and the center. The new The following is from their New Visitors page, which is the first button at the top right corner of their home page. We are a member of the World Assemblies of God fellowship, the largest Pentecostal Christian denomination in the world. With over 300,000 churches in over 110 countries and approximately 57 to 60 million members worldwide, it is the fourth largest international body of Christians. Considering the size of their fellowship, the number of people that participate in this denomination might be a selling point to potential members, showing them that by joining this church, they too will be a part of an organization greater than the individual.

First Assembly of God Homepage, Part 2

On the bottom of the homepage there are three advertisements for organizations that share common values for current and perspective members. Mens Encounter is a 3 day event like a camp with activities that are supposed to bring men closer to God. There is a link to Amazon Marketplace where a visitor can donate money to the Christian Academy, and a link to the Christian Academy, a school for children ranging preschool to grade 12. There is also a link to their latest sermon from their Senior Pastor, Klayton Ko. The sermon is titled Arise and Walk in Wisdom, which has similar resemblance to the banner at the top of the page.

Appeal to the New Generation The organization Faith Street has done some research on how millennials affiliate with religious groups. Their research concluded that younger adults are less likely to identify with a

religion, specifically, that of adults under 30, 55 percent of them are not affiliated with a religious group, even though most of them did when they were younger.3 The First Assembly of God recognizes this with two blog categories dedicated to Youth and Young Adults as you can see on the navigation bar. Some of the blogs featured events like a Meat and Greet BBQ, an event geared toward young adults and strengthening social bonds between people in the same organization. Bellah would applaud the online presence as well as events in the real world for this church, that brings the community together in a common enclave because of shared lifestyles. Through the use of the fellowship and the internet, the community is worldwide, without borders, time zones, and multiple

First Assembly of God, Blog Navigation Bar

languages. Conclusion The wide range of services available from the church and internet help to connect people in more ways than one by creating lifestyle enclaves and bring people together. Although there

http://www.faithstreet.com/onfaith/2012/04/19/young-millennials-losing-faith-in-recordnumbers/21866

is a spiritual portion to their community and serves as a driving force underlying their goals, the activities that they sponsor are not overtly religious. Education, community, and being open to others are universal values, but they have manifested themselves in a way through the religious organization.