Article: Using "Groups" software effectively

Groups? Groups! What is a Group, anyway, and why should I use one?

Simply speaking, a Group is an online software product that allows people with a common interest to communicate and coordinate activities of one kind or another. What kind of activities? Anything from disease management (colitis and crohns at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/colitiscrohns/), freecycling (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Franklin_County_Freecycle/), sports (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Red_Sox_Chat) or church events (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smallchurches/). You'll notice that each of the groups I've highlighted here comes from the Yahoo!Groups site. There are others, notably Google, but this is the one I choose most often to use.

The benefits to the group using this software is quite extensive. Here are some of the features that you can utilize.

• Calendar function with email reminders
• Archived discussion threads
• Ability to post photo albums
• Email distribution list management (mail one note to the site, which then distributes it to all members)
• Simple flat file database capability...maintain address books, etc.
• Ability to store useful files and documents
• Generate polls and surveys

Sound good? So what can you realistically use this for in your church? There are dozens of ways a church can use this kind of software, from connecting with other denominational churches in your area to connecting youth group members to scheduling Bible Quiz tournaments to facilitating communication on boards and committees. An easy project with immediate benefits is to start an email prayer chain. Within a matter of minutes you can construct the basics needed and invite your congregants who have email to join.

Another easy project would be to use the email distribution capability to send out eNewsletters for your church members with email. The obvious limitation here is that anyone participating MUST have an email address. So even though you might send out newsletters via a Group, you'll probably still send some out in paper format.

A missions trip could connect all the participants with deadlines noted on the calendar and reminders sent out, along with needed paperwork stored on the Yahoo server. That way no one would lose the information needed and be hunting for it at the last minute. A centralized repository would eliminate all of that.

How much does it cost? (I can hear you asking this one.) Obviously, most churches can't afford alot of extra outlay. The good news is that many of these providers cover their costs through on-site banner ads, so there is no cost to the user. All you have to do to be able to use Yahoo!Groups is to sign up for a Yahoo account. This opens up the whole suite of software to you. The people who join your group do NOT have to have a Yahoo ID, just a valid email address.

So what are you waiting for? Give it a try!

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