Sojourn Church
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Check out this church’s site and let me know what you think about it.
Here’s what Derek said about it in his entry about the top 15 church plants:
This church recently became an official A29 church, and on top of that, is becoming a great church plant in the Bible-saturated South. Led by David Thew, Sojourn meets in a brewery. How cool is that? Plus, they are reaching a demographic in a Seattlesque city in the south. It’s really cool to see what their doing and to talk with David about his vision for Alabama. They are also looking into the area, planting churches in possibly Tennessee and Georgia. Looking forward to hearing great things out of Huntsville.
- First impressions: I loved the initial impression I had of the site, and of course, who wouldn’t be intrigued by “A Church That Meets in a Brewery?“
- Second impressions were equally impressive as it related the Sojourn’s focus, methodology and well-expressed theology.
- Third impressions were, well, being a little overwhelmed. I really like the content of the site, but I wonder if it’s almost “too much.” I personally like it, cause I’m a reader/learner, but I wondered how others would like it.
- I also found the site a little difficult to navigate around.
- I did particularly appreciate the thought and articulation that has gone into communicating the content of Sojourn Church. They’ve done a wonderful job of establishing their online identify and distinguishing between their “brand” of church and the traditional church. At what expense, I wonder?
- Another observation: they have another site set up called www.churchinabrewery.com that apparently points to key blog entries and FAQs. However, an initial visitor might not stumble across that site, unless he was giving the original site a good once-over.
As always, tell me what you think:
- What is attractive about the site?
- What can you tell about the substance of the church from the site?
- If you lived in the area and were not a church member, would this church’s site be something that might lead you to investigate further? Why or why not?
- What do you not like about the site?
- Are there better questions to ask to elicit better input?
June 20th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Ok, I could be wrong, but I sense a lot of arrogance from this website. If you have to constantly remind people how cool you are (or revelant), then you’re not. Maybe if I were there in person, I would feel differently, but for now, I’m not impressed.
June 21st, 2007 at 10:45 am
Pam, I think I understand what you’re saying. They did spend a LOT of whitespace contrasting their church with the traditional church. Sometimes that can come across as arrogant/disenfranchised. I don’t think they meant it that way.
They are a new church plant, and (even in Journey’s history), a new church is trying to establish the “why” of their existence. Unfortunately, rather than paint a glorious mosaic of the need for different pieces and personalities of the body of Christ, a group can unintentionally (I hope) paint a picture of “ours is better.”
That kind of disconnect with the traditional church is unnecessary and unhelpful. I honestly think the traditional church has a lot ot offer; however, perhaps they also could attempt to earnestly listen to a new generation of Christ-followers and flock leaders that are rising up. It can only complement the kingdom to work together. After all, Jesus said that the world would know that we are His disciples by how much we love one another.
One helpful aside, they are listening. I noticed this link on their site.
June 21st, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Ohhh, I get what you’re saying. I’m sure it must be difficult to promote a new church without coming off as hostile to traditional churches.
I’ll give Sojourn the benefit of the doubt and assume they didn’t mean to sound superior, they were just trying to be clear.