Posts Tagged ‘church’

A MobiMedia for Churches Idea

Friday, January 13th, 2012

During my vacation (last week of 2011), I visited the church my best friend attends in PA and got a chance to meet the elder in charge of operational items for the church. My bro plugged me and what I’ve been doing with MMM and we got into a quick conversation about the church’s move into TV/broadcasting that they expect for this year. In listening, I started to ask why they are looking to go broadcasting, but changed my question to something a bit different. This is a paraphrase of what I proposed to him:

A TV/broadcast ministry for the size of church that you have will need probably about 5-6 dedicated people. You’ll want 2 camera persons, a video tech, a sound tech, and then a production manager to keep all of those together. You’ll probably need to have one of those persons, if not someone (or 2) else to take the content and do any further graphic/sound editing to the final product. And then there’s likely someone on that team, if not another team entirely that is going to be responsible for putting it on a website and making it “press ready” for other local stakeholders who’d want to rebroadcast it. That’s a lot of folks. 

Many of the members have mobile devices (feature phone, smartphones, and tablets were all visible during the service I attended). Why not create mobile media (mobimedia) teams in which people can sign up and do one of three things: recording video, recording audio, and taking still pictures. Ideally, you’d want to make sure that you keep the groups mixed so that the devices are being used within their best capacity, but then you end up with the people who are part of your community, giving a view of a service or event from their perspective, not just the one that’s most camera friendly.

You would then have just two positions to create for the community: a production designer/manager who would be responsible for taking all of the content from the devices, and then creating the “official” video that goes public, and a public relations-like person who would field questions/comments from the public/stakeholders.

When I proposed this to that elder, it was like a light bulb went off. He never considered that (a) the normal design of doing multimedia would need so many layers of people and processes and that (b) it would be possible to include the community in such a way that they’d have a greater sense of ownership of the community and the preached Gospel message.

Now, there are a few things here. You aren’t going to get RED camera quality video or Dolby quality audio from everyone’s mobiles, so you’d want to make sure that you have some kind of grid that would allow you to see the quality of video/audio/stills so that you can organize your teams appropriately. Then again, there was this movie shot entirely on a Nokia N8, so quality isn’t really a question right?

You’d want to make sure that you design a policy that allows people to keep whatever they record, but with the statement that if they make their’s public that it cannot be considered official content from the church. So, you might have a Flickr/YouTube gallery that they would all upload the pics/videos to, but then have something of an official “set” that becomes the public-facing gallery. You’d also have some streams for training that would have to be taken up. For example, you’d definitely want to do a workshop talking about how to best take photos/videos during a service (mindful of flash, camera sounds, zoom, etc.). There might only be a few folks who can do this well in your churches now, but what if that few turned into a few folks from your teen, college, and senior ministries? Considering that many mobiles really are just fine in doing this, these are the kinds of thoughts you’d want to have going into it.

I’m of the opinion that mobiles and people are ready for doing this. But, if I’m to pull this off, I’d have to start a church or something to prove it (uhmmm, the people formerly known as congregation) or just point to those folks already doing it in similar genres (Mobile Media Toolkit, hint, hint).

So, now I throw this one out there to you. Some of you are in churches of similar size (<250 people) and have similar contexts (cable channel access, many mobile devices, need to provoke greater involvement from community, etc.). Couldn’t this work for you? And if it couldn’t (because there’s some unspoken rule about using the latest greatest cameras/tools/tech, this is just not normal, we don’t have money/resources, etc.), then why? 

 

5 Further Ways to Define Mobile Ministry

Monday, December 20th, 2010

Photo of a Dictionary showing the word 'dictionary' via Kingdom of StyleAfter a number of conversations, further readings, and a excellent mobile ministry forum (report coming as soon as I slow down), there’s still this lingering feeling that the definition port forth here towards what is mobile ministry while not bad, just might not have gone far enough.

So, in the spirit of how this initiative is run, I want to put out a refreshed subset of that definition that I’ve been sitting on. It is one part just trying to get into a place of better understanding how to best apply a definition, but also lead towards developing and finding the research/case studies that support mobile ministry as an effective tool.

For a refresher, here’s the definition:

Mobile ministry is the skillful use and application of computer technology classified as mobile for the context of fulfilling the Christian (religious?) designation of forwarding the proclamation of the key ideals and history of the faith, following form to and innovating on top of cultural and faith traditions within applied contexts.

And here’s what I’ve been sitting on:

  • Mobile in missions: contextualizing Gospel messages; business as mission opportunities; technology in politics/global conversations
  • Mobile in Media: specifications around video/audio/text engagements; mobile applications alongside broadcast channels; mobile service development/infrastructure concerns
  • Mobile in discipleship/education: curriculum development; special education; educational explorations (OLPC-like initiatives)
  • Mobile Marketing/Analytics: SEO; security and access; local media channel development; mobile applications alongside and independent of broadcast channels
  • Spiritual implications of connected spaces: theological constraints/precedents; directions for educators/parents/local communities; psychological/cultural effects of mobile vs other personal/connected technology media elements
  • Mobile in Moment: use of connected services and applications; SMS/MMS; effects of and effects towards social and linear networks; personal use; theological constraints/precedents

So, in looking at mobile ministry as a tool, practice, or context, its becoming clear that how mobile is being defined determines its best application.

With that said, do you see any areas here where the Body is already equipped to move quickly into mobile? Or, do you see gaps that need to be addressed, before mobile ministry is regarded as wholly beneficial?

 

What is Mobile Ministry

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

In one of the recent conversations that I was around (about the kiosk), we talked about how ventures like MMM would do well to be certified – it would add validity to the effort around this site and the perceptions towards mobility and mobile ministry. Thing is, mobile ministry isn’t something that you can be certified in (yet) – frankly speaking, it isn’t old enough for there to be sufficient best practices and/or innovations above those.

And yet, I (and some others) sense this need and therefore, we’ve got to define what mobile ministry is, what are the key applications, and what are its clear implications. This post will sit as MMM‘s re-introduction to the public conversations on this topic.

A Working Definition
Mobile ministry is the skillful use and application of computer technology classified as mobile for the context of fulfilling the Christian (religious?) designation of forwarding the proclamation of the key ideals and history of the faith, following form to and innovating on top of cultural and faith traditions within applied contexts.

Mobile [technology] can defined as:

personal computing use that is defined by time, task, and spatial relationships, and is not limited to a device which maintains a wired connection; behavior of use is not limited to non-moving contexts; viewport of use is established by a 1:1 ratio of device/service and user.

Another way to look at this definition is to look at these specific mobile characteristics of mobile technology as identified here:

  1. Mobile is the first personal mass media
  2. Mobile is permanently carried
  3. Mobile is always-on
  4. Mobile has a built-in payment mechanism
  5. Mobile is available at the point of creative inspiration
  6. Mobile has the most accurate audience measurement
  7. Mobile captures the social context of media consumption
  8. Mobile allows augmented reality to be used in media

via Tomi Ahonen, Communities Dominate Brands

This differs from what we commonly hear about mobile. The market definition of mobile is any device that contains wireless communication capabilities (cellular or IP) and is designed around a viewport (screen) of less than 5in. This cosigns mobile into a personal computing context that both magnifies the characteristics, and presents the framework in which to approach mobile for service/life application.

Working Applications of this Definition
With this definition in mind, we can start looking at contexts in which this action of ministry (sharing and multiplying faith experiences) happens. Here are some of these contexts (as defined by MMM‘s case report categories):

  • Short Messages: SMS (text messaging) and MMS (multimedia messaging)
  • Long Messages: email, mobile web, mobile applications
  • Social Networking
  • Multimedia
  • Evangelism
  • Analysis and Metrics
  • Language Development
  • Communication Strategies/Implementations

Indeed, within these constructs, the definition and application of mobile can get very wide and deep. The challenge therefore, is to identify the characteristics of mobile, with the applicable technologies which are mobile in context, to create opportunities for ministry-type engagements.

Missions, Media, and Moments
There are currently, three focuses that I’ve seen in the area of mobile ministry which have come to light over the past 6-10 years: mobile in missions, mobile in media, and mobile capturing/definiting moments.

Mobile in missions looks at the application and use of the technology and characteristics of mobile primarily within the context of fulfilling missional engagements. This includes SMS/MMS campaigns, multimedia sharing/engagement, web media development, educational facilitation and mobile health/wellness campaigns.

Mobile in media ascribes the characteristics of mobile to existing media domains (TV, radio, Internet) to bolster activities and engagement to fringe audiences, and to bolster connections to existing audiences. Here we see SMS/MMS campaigns as a subset of a larger media campaign. There is more of a focus on creating experiences through dedicated applications. And we commonly find those persons whom are missional in business contexts creating Gospel-led moments through these activities.

Mobile as a moment is largely the space where personal use and experimentation of the technology becomes the driver of Gospel engagements. Here, we have the use of religious applications such as bible readers, reading plans, and messaging alerts. Many missional and media engagements start also at this level – where a single person, directly with a mobile or with the assistance of a messaging/social networking service, reaches out to friends and loose associates with messages of encouragement, reproof, instruction, etc. In the marketing space, this would be akin to grassroots and viral methodologies at their most basic levels.

Where Do You Stand
Given this short look at defining mobile ministry, I’d hope that you’d be able to better see where you or your organization might stand in respect to how you choose to engage mobile contexts.

At this still early stage of making this field a viable option for ministries and individuals, such definitions are not just helpful, but frame and understanding towards what can and should be the aims of the tools and behaviors that we shape as mobile ministry becomes yet another avenue to share the wealth and depth of the Christian faith to others.

Stay tuned to the Mobile Case Studies/Research page as items there will also continue to contribute to this (working) definition and the means to identify trends in this space.