Make It Happen
- Do some research about which template might best fit your needs (e.g. WordPress, Blogger, etc.). I recommend WordPress because it has been the most user-friendly in my experience.
- Decide who you would like to serve as the editor of your blog (likely you). Reach out to folks in your parish community who are gifted writers and have an ability to reflect thoughtfully and prayerfully on their experiences of faith. Reach out to the person who will serve as the artist for the blog, as well.
- Follow the step-by-step instructions for set-up that your blog template provides.
- One decision you need to make: Decide whether to set up public or private access to the blog. Public access enables anyone on the Internet access the content of the blog. This option brings with it the advantages of being able to witness to folks who might not otherwise be connected with your parish and could potentially bring them into the parish. It also presents the difficulty of not knowing who is accessing the content of the blog. Private access limits your audience but gives you some semblance of control over who sees the content of the blog. Pray about it, talk with your young adult leadership team and other young adults, and use your sound judgment to make the decision that is right for your young adult community.
- Brainstorm with your contributing writers or your leadership team what topics might be of most interest and of greatest support to your parishioners. Contributing writers can volunteer to write regularly about one of those topics, or you can use another format that works best for the personalities of the folks in the group. Use your creativity! As the contributing writers develop content, be sure to remind them that anything they write is also representing the parish of which they are a part. Decide on an action plan for dealing with controversial posts before starting your blog.
- When you have a plan for the blog and some of the content, sit down with your pastor and share your plan. Your pastor may want to have some editorial responsibility as well. He may also have suggestions for content or even want to write a guest post once in a while.
- I strongly recommend that you use original art and/or photos that you or your team have taken yourselves, as it minimizes potential challenges in the future. There are online sources for free images that can be used (e.g., Creative Commons, www.freedigitalphotos.net, www.sxc.hu, among others).
- It can be difficult to maintain momentum for the readers and writers of the spirituality blog, especially if your community is a transient one. Young adults often come and go from parishes, based on changes in their work and school lives, so consistency can be a challenge in any aspect of young adult ministry. Guest bloggers can be a helpful way to attract attention to your blog after it has been going for a while. Invite your pastor or other members of the staff to be guest bloggers.
Ideas
- You might create videos using the following ideas, upload them to YouTube, and then post links to them in your spirituality blog:
- If someone in your music ministry writes original psalms, ask if you can record that portion of their rehearsal the week before Sunday Mass
- If your parish has the resources, record Sunday Mass homilies.
- Record interviews with lay members of the staff, asking them about their vocations or with members of the parish about why they are Catholic or choose to attend Mass.
Recommends
Before you start the spirituality blog, be sure that you have a team of reliable and creative young adults who are able to commit to this online ministry. Those two pieces — reliability and creativity — have the potential to take the spirituality blog far!
Help
Here are some examples of spirituality blogs on which I’ve worked:
Another blog to watch is Women in Theology
