The death of newspaper home delivery, snail mail, and the rise of the Internet

[James Nored]

Just today Becki turned to me and said, How long before people stop using the mail? We were talking about sending out Christmas cards, and noting how each one would cost $0.50 just for postage. Plus the card costs. Many are moving to online cards and e-vites exclusively. I said, yes, snail mail is dying. But on the other hand, a real card in the mail now actually means something.
Still, it is likely that my generation will be the last to really cling to real mail in any way, as the generations below us have grown up in a world of e-vites.

A Detriot newspaper just announced that they will stop home delivery of their newspaper, saying that it is not cost effective to travel 300,000 miles daily delivering newspapers when 60% of their clients have broadband access. Read the story here.

It is unlikely that snail mail or newspapers will die completely. But they will definitely change--smaller circulation, only sold in places few people have Internet access, more specialized in content.

My question is, how does this relate to ministry? Members are often reluctant to go online for ministry news and information, while others gravitate there. How can we make this transition to a broadband age and what will it look like?

[Donn Holsinger]

James,

As one of your parents generation who has read a daily newspaper that was delivered to my home pretty much my entire life I would really miss it if home delivery goes away. I can see it happening though since right now I believe I am the only person on my block that has the Dallas Morning News delivered. As to how this relates to ministry I believe we need to ensure we have a robust online presence that centers on outreach to the community but provides a members area where information can be shared that concerns the church family. As we move more online we should consider providing kisoks within the building that can be use by members who don't have acess to a PC at home. Very similar to the PC set-up to show the directory.

We do, however, need to maintain an offline presence that can be used to reach those who are not online. This would include both older people who are not interested in technology and those who for economic reasons don't have access to technology. I feel the best offline presence would be something along the line of what we currently doing with your December series. That way we target our audience and give members a chance to be involved in the outreach.

Donn..

[James Nored]

Donn, these are really good thoughts. There is indeed a sadness in the passing of an era. In any transition, leaders do well to "eulogize" the dead--speak of the past era, and highlight its great moments before moving on.

I like your idea of providing kiosks. This would be helpful for both members and visitors. And some kind of offline presence is good, even though the balance must still shift dramatically to a greater online presence.

Thanks for sharing, Donn.

[James Nored]

Here is another story that shows that more people now get their news online than through newspapers (see story). We really are in a different world.

[Lynn S. Nored]

I would suggest congregations need a purposed long term focus on education of the electronic age and its impact on mission. Sure us old Grey hairs will slowly die out and the transition will take place --just as cars replaced buggies. But there is a need to educate and expose the congregation continually during this transition period--particularly as it affects mission.

[Ed Dodds]

I fear there are two impediments: 1) Christian Colleges which can no longer justify geographically (campus) based fees when so much free curriculum is being offered by the open educational resources movement (to enable distance education) and 2) Christian publishing houses which can now make most hard backs/softcovers via pdf or html. It would be cool to see the Colleges/Universities join to offer a digital archives (http://openeducation.developmentgateway.org/ ; http://www.ocwconsortium.org/ ; etc.)

[James Nored]

Ed, you are right on. MIT, as I understand it, puts their entire curriculum online for free. We are in a different era.

Ed Dodds said:

I fear there are two impediments: 1) Christian Colleges which can no longer justify geographically (campus) based fees when so much free curriculum is being offered by the open educational resources movement (to enable distance education) and 2) Christian publishing houses which can now make most hard backs/softcovers via pdf or html. It would be cool to see the Colleges/Universities join to offer a digital archives (http://openeducation.developmentgateway.org/ ; http://www.ocwconsortium.org/ ; etc.)

[James Nored]

Here is more evidence of the change from print to the web. One of the venerable Seattle newspapers is going to an all web format. Read the story here.