"Don't put church activities on your Web page"

Status
Not open for further replies.
debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
Is my pastor's latest complaint about the church's Web page. I thought I was doing the church a favor and created a Web site for it which included church activities (like a calendar of upcoming events). The pastor must have looked at it. When he saw me last, he said quite emphatically that the activities of the church are "private" and not for the general public to know about and to please remove these events from the page.

This seemed a bit snobby to me. If they want the congregation to grow, they should be willing to be more warm and welcoming.

This isn't the first time I've been told to remove things from the page. One time he was hot & bothered because I posted photos of the Easter service. He didn't like the photos there since I did not get permission from the people in them to be used.

Jeepers, you try to help someone.....
 

I have kids that will never put a photo online & those that do. So, if I know which ones don't , then I don't ever put their photos up. I never put photos of my grandchildren up because of predators and how they can get addresses off some photos & stalk the kids. I'm telling you this so you might understand your pastor's position on the photos a little better. I don't know why he wants the activities private, but I do know there are some con artists that troll the net looking for charitable events to just show up at faking whatever they need to fake for profit, maybe that's why. Anyhoo..not my business, just trying to put some ideas out there as to why he told you what he told you.
 
No offense intended, BUT sounds as if you need a new church. Your pastors job is to evangelical. It would worry me that he would not be openly welcome to all.

I think you have said once that this is an unaffiliated Baptist congregation? Scary if you ask me. Is your Pastor ordained? I think about the church in Syracuse where the teenage boy was murdered and his brother beaten.

Seems to me everyone and their brother declares themselves to be an "Independent Baptist" and then starts disbursing the Gospel according to their own mind. Many of them bordering on cultishness.

The concern for internet security to me is nothing more than a foil your Pastor is using to exercise total control over the message from his pulpit.
 
debodun said:
Is my pastor's latest complaint about the church's Web page. I thought I was doing the church a favor and created a Web site for it which included church activities (like a calendar of upcoming events). The pastor must have looked at it. When he saw me last, he said quite emphatically that the activities of the church are "private" and not for the general public to know about and to please remove these events from the page.

This seemed a bit snobby to me. If they want the congregation to grow, they should be willing to be more warm and welcoming.

This isn't the first time I've been told to remove things from the page. One time he was hot & bothered because I posted photos of the Easter service. He didn't like the photos there since I did not get permission from the people in them to be used.

Jeepers, you try to help someone.....
Click to expand...

Deb, I don't think he's out of line at all. No church events should be publicized like that without the approval of the pastor. What if you posted an event that was changed after the fact, then people would be angry that they showed up for nothing and blame it on the church leaders?

The fact that you were told once before to remove things about the church is even more reason for you to stop doing it, that isn't showing him very much respect or consideration IMO. Honestly, if someone took photos of me at an event and posted them online without my approval, I'd be furious.
 
In my opinion, sounds like your Pastor is a little on the "old fashioned" side and does not take well to the internet. I think posting "generic" pictures of events that did not include church member's pictures would be alright. If I were looking for a Church Family, I would go online and do a search. I think we are all getting a bit "paranoid" about things.
 
Here we go again. The pastor called me Sunday afternoon and asked that I make more changes to the Web site I had made for the fellowship. Before this, it was that I was posting private fellowship activities he didn't want the general public to know about because he didn't want "crashers" showing up (which seems snobby to me - if you want new members, don't exclude the public).

I could hardly understand him - he must have been calling from a cell phone in his car - he kept cutting out and when I could hear him, it sounded like he was gargling. I tried to get some clarification as to exactly what changes he wanted, but he never lost a beat - it was like he had a speech memorized and wanted to get through it without interruption and when he finished, he just hung up without waiting for me to say anything. I'm still not sure what he wanted. I think an email would have been more efficient.
 
Why not schedule time to talk with him in person and come to an agreement everyone can live with? It feels from your description a bit antagonistic especially since he's asked you at least three times to take church activities and information off your site. Why not just remove it and move on.
 
debodun said:
Is my pastor's latest complaint about the church's Web page. I thought I was doing the church a favor and created a Web site for it which included church activities (like a calendar of upcoming events). The pastor must have looked at it. When he saw me last, he said quite emphatically that the activities of the church are "private" and not for the general public to know about and to please remove these events from the page.

This seemed a bit snobby to me. If they want the congregation to grow, they should be willing to be more warm and welcoming.

This isn't the first time I've been told to remove things from the page. One time he was hot & bothered because I posted photos of the Easter service. He didn't like the photos there since I did not get permission from the people in them to be used.

Jeepers, you try to help someone.....
Click to expand...

Deb, I agree with the pastor. Not a good idea to take it upon yourself to create a website representing the church and its activities and post photos of events online without permission. You are merely a parishoner, and not in charge. That would be like me creating a website for someone else's business, like say, if I created a website for the New York Times paper. I think it might even be illegal to do this and rather dubious, you can't go around creating websites for whomever you think should have one.

The pastor is responsible for the church's agenda and if something goes wrong and the wrong information is put out then he's going to be the one to have to answer for it. As well, he doesn't want to have to keep checking it all the time for errors and misinformation, so you are creating more work for him. If he wanted a website for the church, he would have had it made. You are overiding his authority and I think he is right to be annoyed and offended.
 
debodun said:
Is my pastor's latest complaint about the church's Web page. I thought I was doing the church a favor and created a Web site for it which included church activities (like a calendar of upcoming events). The pastor must have looked at it. When he saw me last, he said quite emphatically that the activities of the church are "private" and not for the general public to know about and to please remove these events from the page.

This seemed a bit snobby to me. If they want the congregation to grow, they should be willing to be more warm and welcoming.

This isn't the first time I've been told to remove things from the page. One time he was hot & bothered because I posted photos of the Easter service. He didn't like the photos there since I did not get permission from the people in them to be used.

Jeepers, you try to help someone.....
Click to expand...
Oh. Your church didn’t ask you to make a website? You took it apon yourself to create one without asking first?

He clearly didn’t want you doing this and since it’s his church, he should be able to run it the way he wants.

You posted photos of church members without their permission? 😱

Ok! You’ve been doing this for a while and he clearly and honestly let you know he doesn’t like it but you continue to do it anyway?

That’s being disrespectful! It’s his church. His fellowship and you had no permission or authority to do this.
 
PeppermintPatty said:
Oh. Your church didn’t ask you to make a website? You took it apon yourself to create one without asking first?

He clearly didn’t want you doing this and since it’s his church, he should be able to run it the way he wants.

You posted photos of church members without their permission? 😱

Ok! You’ve been doing this for a while and he clearly and honestly let you know he doesn’t like it but you continue to do it anyway?

That’s being disrespectful! It’s his church. His fellowship and you had no permission or authority to do this.
Click to expand...
Well said.
 
PeppermintPatty said:
Oh. Your church didn’t ask you to make a website? You took it apon yourself to create one without asking first?

He clearly didn’t want you doing this and since it’s his church, he should be able to run it the way he wants.

You posted photos of church members without their permission? 😱

Ok! You’ve been doing this for a while and he clearly and honestly let you know he doesn’t like it but you continue to do it anyway?

That’s being disrespectful! It’s his church. His fellowship and you had no permission or authority to do this.
Click to expand...

Describing church activities as 'private' seems strange. He's making it sound like a 'members' only club' that outsiders shouldn't know about.
However, taking it upon yourself to create a web site without discussing it first is fraught with danger. I suppose if it was your site in which you spoke about your church activities, that would be different although you still have to be careful of privacy issues.

As they say, Hell is paved with good intentions.
 
She's an Aries. She likes to have things her way and she's stubborn. Needs some water in her chart to dowse the flame.
 
Ruthanne said:
Deb had good intentions though.
Click to expand...
I had the same type of thing happen.

When I was asked to make a website for my chapter of the DAR, we originally had a "members" page, but so many objected to having their picture on the website we took it down. We also had good intentions, trying to show various activities we were involved in and that we were a friendly group. But now that I think about it, it should have been brought up at a meeting before posting pictures. However, it was a long time ago, before all the scamming started and we didn't recognize the possible implications back then.
 
Deb, you are a nice person.

You do so much work for the meals on wheels program. You go beyond what most people would do.

Do you think maybe that the reason you overstep and try to do things for your church without permission as you do and as you have done in the past, is because you’re wanting the attention of the pastor? Is he a single pastor? Are you attracted to him? Just a thought.

Sometimes if we now the motivation behind the action it helps for future reference.
 
There’s also a saying that goes , “We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions.”

I can’t recall how many times I have done something that I sincerely thought was a good thing only to discover the person I’m doing it for got completely annoyed by it.

It’s a lesson I’m continuously learning even to this day. It really has to do with boundaries. If somebody clearly states that they don’t like you interfering then they have made that boundary CLEAR! It doesn’t need justification. It’s THEIR preference. We don’t have to understand it.

I’ve often given unsolicited advice when it’s not been welcome, gone out of my way to please someone when it’s not welcome and then interfered in things that aren’t my business, when it’s not welcome.

Some people are better at socializing than others. Some people are better at understanding boundaries and where they are. I’m not one of them but I am fully aware that I’m not alone in this issue. Misinterpreting what people say and mean is a common mistake we all make.

I like Deb but I think she made a mistake. We all make mistakes. She’s honest enough to make her mistakes public and smart enough to learn from them.
 

Status
Not open for further replies.

Back
Top