Eden Newsletter - Summer 2003

www.eden-cambridge.org

The Eden website - shop window or on-line handbook?

Stefan Kaye, Deacon with responsibility for the web site.

I'm sure most people at Eden know we have a web site, but I wonder how many look at it even occasionally? Surely the web-site is there to present Eden to the outside world, to provide information for people all around the world about what we believe and what we are doing?

Well, yes and no. The web site certainly is for those who might be, say, looking for a church in Cambridge or who have moved away and want to catch up on our news. But did you know that the web site also has:

• A diary section on the main page giving the events for the week ahead and often a little beyond? So if you were away and didn't pick up a bulletin, or have lost yours, you can still find out what's going on. This section is usually updated several times a week.
• A copy of the term-card for both morning and evening services which is constantly updated to include details of visiting preachers which weren't available when the printed term-card was issued. We also try and keep up with Julian as he shuffles his sermons around!
• The Eden newsletter now appears on-line - of course you may actually be reading this on-line! Back numbers from Summer 2002 are available. Certain sensitive details (mostly personal and financial) are edited out, but otherwise the electronic version is the same as the printed edition.

There are also plans in the not too distant future to provide on-line access to audio recordings of sermons - this should be of interest both to Eden folk in Cambridge and perhaps more especially to those currently living at a distance. If you want to see what this might look like, all you need to do is visit the web site of Rock Baptist Church (www.rockbaptist.org.uk), where they already have this facility set up. Sermons will still be provided on tape for a considerable time to come, but we see this eventually being supplanted by on-line availability and by CDs.

Some people have asked me about having the members' list available on-line. The Elders, Deacons and Staff have discussed this, but have decided against it for the time being. Such a facility would require a secure area of the web site since the majority of people would not want their details available for all the world to see. However a secure area with password access would need to be handled very sensitively to avoid creating the impression of a "closed community". We may review this position if a strong demand arises for this kind of facility.

There are three areas which I am keen to develop, but for which I need some help - from you!

• I would like to have up to date diaries for any of the various groups who would like this published - e,g, the 20s-30s, Friday Impact etc. But I can't do this without the necessary information. Leaders please note! The great advantage of an electronic schedule is that I can keep it bang up to date, whereas a schedule printed at the start of a term may soon become out of date. If folk know that information on the web site is up to date, they will use it.
• I would like to include many more news items - you don't have to wait for the next newsletter. We have been blessed by lots of baptisms and a fair number of infant dedications lately, so why not some reports on these? In particular, some baptismal candidates' testimonies are well worthy of a wider audience.
• We would like to develop the "documents" section to provide a whole range of reference material, Many church web sites do this, and I'm sure that we at Eden have much to offer in this respect.

So the answer to the question in the title is "both". The web site is indeed our "shop window" to the wider world - but it is also for our members and regulars right here in Cambridge. Please look at it, use it - and contact me with any comments, complaints and suggestions; your feedback is always welcome.