Province 1 launches online community
Episcopal News Service. February 3, 2011 [020311-04]
ENS staff
Province I of the Episcopal Church has launched what it is calling an online community that invites "people near and far to bring their gifts and gather together around Christ."
Province1.org is rapidly picking up new members with free resources to share across the seven dioceses of the province (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Western Massachusetts) and beyond, according to a press release.
Province 1's architects don't call it a "website," the release said. "It's so much more than that," provincial Executive Director Sarah Dylan Breuer said in the release. "This isn't just a place to gather information, though we certainly provide that. Province1.org is a place to gather people for collaboration, mutual support, and sharing resources for mission."
In a letter on the site, Breuer added, "It's also a community where you can meet, work, and share with people. What you see in this corner of cyberspace will be what you -- Episcopalians of New England and our friends from around the world -- build."
The engine of the site is Drupal, a powerful software system -- a variant of it powers the Obama White House site -- that is free and open-source, meaning that its code can be seen by anyone to give it new functions, increase its security and efficiency, or customize it for a particular community. Those who use open-source software do so not only to improve it, but also to provide support for fellow users with questions or problems, allowing for rapid growth of a diverse user community without incurring massive costs for its creators, according to the release.
"That kind of community is a model for how one way we can 'have all things in common' (Acts 4:32) today," Breuer said in the release. "One community member may have a great idea for a Vacation Bible School curriculum, for example, but not the time to fill it out. Province1.org provides a community of creative people passionate about mission, each of whom could add a piece, some of whom might translate it into another language, and some of whom will provide feedback to help strengthen it."
"No single one of us has everything needed to engage God's mission fully, but when we come together in community, we always find that God provides the resources we need. That's what Provice1.org is for."
Already Province1.org offers free curricula for Lenten study, evangelism, and new member incorporation, as well as points of contact with each of the province's ministry network hosts.
To help people across the province provide access to their meetings, the province is also investing in a set of "MiFi" portable Internet routers, according to the release, which gives Internet access anywhere a cell phone signal is available. Initially the portable routers will be available to be checked out from diocesan centers, and more will be added to assist those who make most frequent and fruitful use of them. Workshops across the province plus a help forum on Province1.org will help people make full use of the technology to broaden access to their meetings and further collaboration for ministry, the province said in its release.
"Wherever two or three are gathered, there will be a Province 1 ministry network event," Breuer suggested. "It's a 21st-century expression of a first-century model of community."
Breuer can be contacted at 857-225-0433 or executive.director@province1.org