The internet has ushered in a new way of doing almost everything, from shopping to research. Here at Practical Resources for Churches (PRC), we’ve seen an increase in the use of the internet in how we interact with people, provide resources, and offer learning and growth opportunities. Although we still offer face-to-face experiences through our workshops and roundtables, our webinar program is continually expanding.

Webinar attendees are able to participate in a live webinar in the comfort of their own home. If the time of the webinar isn’t convenient, then the recorded webinar can be watched at any time. Knowing how valuable time is to people in ministry, we decided to keep our webinars to an hour in length and to focus on practical answers to questions that churches ask.

Our webinar topics cover many areas such as intergenerational ministry, faith formation for all ages, youth ministry, worship, technology and social media, stewardship and finance, as well as church growth and renewal.

In early 2015, we offered a series of workshops which focused on intergenerational ministry. Ivy Beckwith, author of a number of books including Postmodern Children’s Ministry and Formational Children’s Ministry, presented three webinars on intergenerational faith formation and worship. Linda Staats of HomeGrown Faith presented a webinar on intergenerational ministry as well as one about an intergenerational stewardship program. Sam Halverson, author of One Body: Integrating Teenagers into the Life of Your Church led a three webinar series which focused on youth ministry and how to integrate youth into the life of the church.

Our webinar program began in 2011 and by the end of December 2014 we had produced approximately 80 webinars. For the 31 webinars offered during 2013-2014 we had 16 different presenters from all over the country and more than 474 people attended. Most of the 50 states were represented and there were even attendees from other countries.

We have worked hard to make our webinars affordable and recently we were able to offer all of our webinars at no charge, although donations to cover expenses are always appreciated. Our webinar program costs approximately $20,000 each year and has been underwritten by local judicatory agencies, grants, the fees our subscribing churches pay, and the hundreds of individual small donors who give anywhere from $5.00 to $1,000 every year.

To see the list and register for upcoming webinars, visit the webinars page of our website. To view recorded webinars, go to the on-demand webinars page. We are always open to suggestions for future webinar topics. To offer your suggestions or for more information, contact us by email.

Debbie Kolacki, Senior Consultant for PRC

Today Debbie is offering a free webinar on Faith Formation Online. You can register for this on the link to the webinars page above or through the Hope4CE Facebook group. KLD