MondayMorningInsight, via the Willow Creek Association, has 15 trends they want to challenge the church to embrace.  Here they are…

1.  Podcasting – circuit riding at the speed of light

2.  Blogging – digital discipleship

3.  Video Technologies – postmodern stained glass

4.  Viral Video – get contagious quickly

5.  Multi-Purpose Church Buildings – doing ministry in the marketplace

6.  Multi-Site Churches – one church, multiple locations

7.  Web Site – your church portal

8.  E-Mail – word of mouse

9.  Branding – the greatest message deserves the greatest marketing

10.  Social Networking – church as a tag-team sport

11.  Get a [Second] Life! – “Go into all the [virtual] nations…”

12.  Get Joost – the magic of television meets the power of the internet

13.  Text Message – get instant feedback

14.  RSS – the feeds that matter most

15.  Live! Missionaries – bridging the geographic distance

A few thoughts…

Regarding # 1 – I really think this is important to consider.  We have serious commute time where we could give some encouragement to folks.  At least have old sermons available for people to listen to.

Regarding # 3 – This is hard for the small to mid-sized church to pull off by themselves.  Use Highway video or some other such company.

Regarding # 8 – Seriously, if your church does not use e-mail get clicking.  This is almost a dated thing to do.  My church does a weekly e-mail every Friday with our key announcements and a word about the coming Sunday service.

Regarding #14 – Some day very few people will go to a web site to get news…the news will come to them.  Get on the RSS bandwagon.