Monday, October 1, 2007

Day 1 - CyberSafety in Ministry

Day one is over but we are just getting started. The Design Team did a great job organizing the event. I was particularly impressed with everyone's participation and comments during the networking session. It was clear to me that the participants are very serious about making a difference when the conference is over.

Three members of the Teen Angels came and talked with us in the afternoon. Teen Angels are sponsored by Wired Safety. They talked about social networking, electronic communication methods and You Tube.

All three touted the positive aspects of the Internet. All had profiles on Facebook and a couple used MySpace. They seemed very confident that they knew and were observing proper safety precautions online. The main precaution they talked about was the importance of allowing only friends to view their profiles.

A few of their comments caught my attention:
"The Internet is tailored to our interest and convenience."
"You Tube is our cinema."
"Contrary to popular opinion, social networking is not the root of all evil."
"Facebook is good for personal relationships, not professional ones."
"MySpace is where we find new music."
"Sure there is stuff on You Tube I don't want to see, but there is stuff on regular TV I don't want to see either."
"Facebook helps you maintain long distance relationships."

When asked what churches need to do to reach youth the response was to provide a space (webpage) where they can find out information about the church and provide a way for the youth to ask questions and get answers online.

2 comments:

Patrick said...

FIRST COMMENT! WHOOO!!

SS ServLeader said...

Have we been able find a sample
Cyber safety policy? I think
Mr Street was going to share that one he is using at his church?

SS MO Conference