uring the Renaissance period, the greatest minds of the time produced works inspired by the Word of God. Some of the greatest masterpieces of this era include Michelangelo’s statue of David, DaVinci’s painting of The Last Supper, and Michelangelo’s painting of The Creation of Man, which happens to reside in a chapel – the Sistine Chapel. It used to be that when people looked to produce a grand cultural fingerprint, they looked toward the Church. Today, however, a paradigm shift leaves the Church lagging behind the culture in nearly every aspect.

Today's Church sees where culture is headed and, like a wounded puppy, tries to keep up. In the 30s and 40s, due mostly to racist prejudices, American culture was wary to accept Jazz music and the emergence of Rock and Roll, an attitude the Church clung to even through the 60s and 70s when the Beatles topped the charts. When movies came on the scene, the Church was nowhere to be found. The movie industry quickly took hold of the secular market, and the Church is still today struggling to keep up with blockbuster hits.

Innovation

In this millennium, the Internet is the next big thing for the Church to miss out on. There are few websites out of billions that might possibly pop into someone's head as a positive social phenomenon produced by a Christian. Phenomenal sites that were not produced by a Christian individual or group include Google, YouTube, Wikipedia, Yahoo, MySpace and a whole slew of other sites whose familiarity varies among social groups. 

It’s difficult, though not impossible, to think of any Christian-based website that is a driving force on the Internet. This is not for lack of effort. The Internet is cluttered with useless websites not only of a secular nature, but a religious nature as well. It’s not a matter of quantity, and sometimes not even a matter of quality. For each popular secular website, there are plenty of Christian alternatives; but people just won’t go. What's the problem? In a time where innovation is essential, the Church, in general, has no idea how to innovate.

The stories of some innovative websites are similar. Yahoo was around and doing nicely, but Google innovated and ended up on top. Friendster was around and picking up more and more registrants, but MySpace innovated and no one heard from Friendster again. MySpace is doing well, but Facebook innovates and continues stealing more and more potential MySpace users. Innovation is clearly the key. One may argue that advertising got MySpace and others to the top, but advertising will only get people to the site; innovation will keep them there.

Redemption

And innovation is where most Christian alternative sites fall flat. If it's exactly the same site, then why go there when the popular site has everything you need plus a larger subscriber base? Another problem is exclusivity of the idea, which becomes a problem to those on the outside looking in. It limits the people likely to subscribe, giving yet another reason not to join.

Take a look at a Christian alternative site that's just about on its way to the top. GodTube is doing a great job on the innovation front. By its name, it's easy to assume that this is a Christian alternative to YouTube. But it offers much more than YouTube. There are social networks that have videos, like MySpace does, but GodTube is the only site that offers a “video-driven social network.” It also provides a video chat service (now that's innovation), live streaming events, a prayer wall and a virtual Bible.

GodTube is basically the place to go for a Christian to interact and connect with other Christians on the Internet. It's not going to attract many secular or agnostic people, though. The name “GodTube” being a direct rip-off of “YouTube,” doesn't help this fact. Shakespeare said “what's in a name,” but everyone else says “first impressions are the most important.” And this impression tells people that it's just another video site, but with a Christian twist. A secular person might drop by out of curiosity, but, since it's full of Christian content, the user won't relate to it and likely won’t return.

Christian arts and services tend to lump themselves into one of two groups: those that serve the Church, and those that serve the world.

Here's the most important point. Christian arts and services tend to lump themselves into one of two groups: those that serve the Church, and those that serve the world. There is a massively unequal amount of arts and services that cater exclusively to the Church and not nearly enough that go “into all the world.” Innovation is important; but telling others about the redemption that God provides is that to which we are called.

Just one more thing: the quality of a website does not make a great website. There are plenty of well-made Christian websites that aren’t getting the hits of a Google or a MySpace. The trick is to know your audience. People who regularly visit the Internet aren’t generally looking for what Christian sites are producing. Although made well, they just aren’t made with the audience in mind.

So go start a Christian website, but branch out. Don't limit yourself to the needs and desires of the Church. Be creative, be innovative and be redemptive. Do what no one else is doing, but do it in order to save souls. That's what we need on the Internet – that's redemptive innovation.