Would a wiki site be helpful for a local church or house church?

Question

Do you see any benefits for a wiki site for a local or house based church?

What are the benefits or drawbacks for this type of ministry?

Do you know any church / non profits that have a wiki site and if so what is it?

How about Wiki for the office staff and not the people that are part of the congregation?

Does this make any difference?

Answer 1

A wiki can be either an open community-based site, or it can be used as a simple content management system. Regardless of the number of tech-savvy users in your congregation, you'll almost certainly find some benefit to having a wiki, even if it is used for no more than an easy way for one person to update your church's website. See http://lexden.org.uk for an example of a very closed wiki that is only edited by three members of the church. The site is now updated weekly whereas it went months with no changes or corrections when it was a static HTML site.

In selecting the features your wiki needs, you should consider whether you require editorial control over the site and whether you have enough able volunteers to monitor the site for vandalism. You might find you need a closed wiki, but most wiki software allows you to change the settings to restrict editing to certain people. I'd recommend making the site as open as you possibly can since reducing the barrier to entry will encourage people to get involved and help you to have an active wiki.

Answer 2

I really can't think of how this would benefit your church, unless your church is in the San Jose area and your parishioners are mostly tech savvy users. You'll just confuse your congregation, and as the poster above notes, hang the invite sign for vandals.

Answer 3

i see no benefit to having a wiki on a religious website - it will just end up being vandalised to hell (no offence) by atheist visitors.

Answer 4

What is a wiki???