Does an organic church need a website?

About two weeks ago, Bill and Wanda Tummons started an organic church just outside of Orlando in Wedgefield, Florida.  They were able to get a good-looking 3 page website for 0 dollars and absolutely no monthly cost.  It  took just a few hours to get content loaded and a couple of days to get the site up and running.  The website is now searchable on Google.  Check out the Wedgefield Community Church website at: http://www.wedgefieldcommunitychurch.org.

Since organic churches are primarily relational, do they need websites?  I would say yes, because a website is a great way to tell your friends about your organic church.  Sometimes it's hard to explain what you are doing or hard for people to remember when and where you are meeting.  So, why not just ask them to check you out on the web?  A website is a great place to share your values and beliefs while letting people get a feel of what your gatherings are like.  You can post a link to your Facebook page and send out Tweets with links back to your site just like any other church.  You can also link to or list other organic churches in your network.  If you could get a low-cost or free website for your organic church, why not let the www know that you exist?

'What Would Google Do?'

Search engines are changing the way people find, collect and share information. Online search is also affecting the way people interact and do business offline. In his new book, Jeff Jarvis asks, 'What Would Google Do?':

Give the people control. Do what you do best and link to the rest. Small is the new big. The mass market is dead; long live the mass of niches. There is an inverse relationship between control and trust. Be honest. Be transparent. Free is a business model. Middlemen are doomed. Simplify, simplify. Don't be evil.

Sounds like good church planting advice. I would like to translate it this way:

• Start small with little to no overhead - no rented buildings and no paid staff.
  
• Decentralize - pastors should act like trainers and not priests
  
• Network with other churches - you can't do it all alone, but together we can reach a region
• Be real - let people see you for who you are, warts and all
  
• Be relational - let evangelism flow out of love
• Be flat - no hierarchial leadership
  
• Take it easy - don't over complicate things
• Don't be evil speaks for itself