What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • 10 ways to make church websites better

     

    1  Include what time the services are and how to get there. If you are making big plans for a festival then make big plans to put it online. Some churches appear to have given up celebrating Christmas if you read their websites. (And remember, people do read websites and most read little else).

    2  Have things that are up to date. And only things that are up to date. That means today’s date.

    3  Say what the worship is like. Remember in your writing for the web that feelings matter.

    4  Use a design which reflects and promotes the ethos of the church. (Pay for it if you must, but really, you needn’t).

    5  Think about how to describe what it is like to worship there for the first time.

    6  Include some details about the stuff you do that isn’t worship but remember to work out which is icing and which is cake.

    7  Have details right there on the front page about which church denominations around the world that you are in communion with and which you are not in communion with, if you think such information is going to make other people come to your church. (Hint: I don’t.)

    8  Collect good pics of people doing things and ask around to see whether people think they might be a better introduction to your church than a tired “Welcome From the Rector” message that never changes.

    9  Video is good but needs to be refreshed. Every week, if not more often. (Yes, really).

    10  Try praying this prayer in your intercessions for a couple of weeks in church and see if God answers your prayer: “Help us O Lord, to build a website that reflects how wonderful we think you are”.

     

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4 responses to “Book Review”

  1. Peter O Avatar
    Peter O

    I think you miss the point of the book Kelvin. It’s meant to be a guide to listening to *all* sides of the debate, not just those you agree with. That’s what makes the last section so good, because it forces us to deal realistically not just with the genuine evidence on the causality of homosexuality, but also the fact that some people *do* see remarkable change in their sexual orientation (and that others don’t).

    I wrote my own review here.

    Reply
  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    We were not called by the last Lambeth Conference to listen to all sides in the debate.

    Reply
  3. ryan Avatar
    ryan

    Ruth Gledhill has posted a PDF of the whole thing, for those interested:
    http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/files/Final.pdf

    Reply
  4. Rosemary Avatar
    Rosemary

    I’ve now read the ‘scientific’ section – thanks for the link ryan – and I thought it was mixed. I thought Glynn Harrison made a serious attempt at dispassion. I think it is a fair point that any person must decide their own priorities, and the final argument must be between theologies, not sciences. I was not so impressed by David de Pomerai – though one could hardly quarrel with his conclusion that we simply do not know exactly what makes one person homosexual and the next heterosexual. However his whole argument was bedevilled by assumptions that, e.g. homosexual men will be more effeminate than straight ones. Anecdotal evidence instantly produces examples where it is the straight male siblings who are drama queens and run from spiders, while gay ones take it all in their stride.

    It must be accepted that both gay and straight people live with voluntary or enforced celibacy with no ill effects – and that some people can change their sexual orientation and live happily with the change. What I found truly heart rending were the desperate attempts and the high cost to those who actually did succeed in changing orientation – however much Harrison denies the skin colour analogy, it reminded me painfully of those endless jars of skin lightener which encrust Sri Lankan chemists, where beauty is measured in skin tone. Because whether or not genetic, orientation is not a simple free choice. But I suppose the answer would be: ‘And what is?’

    The final point, though, is always the same. Is Christianity a religion of an authoritative book, or an authoritative Person?

    Reply

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