{"id":4578,"date":"2010-06-28T07:37:45","date_gmt":"2010-06-28T07:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2010\/06\/how-does-your-church-rate.html"},"modified":"2010-06-28T07:37:45","modified_gmt":"2010-06-28T07:37:45","slug":"how-does-your-church-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/06\/how-does-your-church-rate.html","title":{"rendered":"How does your church rate?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cr.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>Now there’s a place where you can find out.<\/p>\n

The story is in this morning’s Detroit Free Press: <\/a><\/p>\n

\nWe use dating Web sites to find soul mates. Now, some entrepreneurs want to take that to a higher level and help you find the perfect spiritual home.<\/p>\n

Consider ChurchRater.com, a church-shopping Web site that allows users to rate churches. ChurchRater — founded by a Catholic, a Christian, a Jew and an atheist — invites users to review and recommend churches.<\/p>\n

In Michigan, users have posted reviews of about 15 churches. Christ Church Cranbrook is commended for its “sermon after-party,” where the pastor takes questions. At Base Church in Waterford, the preacher was criticized for using “amen” as punctuation.<\/p>\n

Pastor Devine Meyers of Base Church chuckled at the assessment of his reliance on amens.<\/p>\n

“I kind of ding myself on that all the time — so he’s right,” said Meyers. He lauded the aim of the Web site: “It keeps you honest. It keeps you focused.”<\/p>\n

“The whole issue of how to use the Web and communications is gigantic” for churches, said the Rev. Gary Hall, rector of Christ Church Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills. “People really find churches on the Web. … more on the Web than any other medium.”<\/p>\n

Younger faith-seekers are tech-savvy spiritualists.
\n“They’re not wedded to the books the way we are in traditional churches,” said Hall. “They meet in coffeehouses and nontraditional places. And they do a lot of information-sharing on the Web.”<\/p>\n

Since its Feb. 1 launch, ChurchRater has drawn more than 43,000 unique visitors, said Tyler Mahoney, 23, who was raised Catholic. One of the site’s cofounders, Mahoney is pursuing a master of divinity degree at Duke University.<\/p>\n

The site’s founders also include Jim Henderson, a Seattle Christian pastor, and Matt Casper, a San Diego atheist, who coauthored the book “Jim and Casper Go to Church,” which chronicles a soul-searching road trip. The final cofounder is Julian Zegelman, a San Francisco attorney who is Jewish.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can find out more at the link. <\/a><\/p>\n

And you can visit ChurchRater.com<\/a> for more. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now there’s a place where you can find out. The story is in this morning’s Detroit Free Press: We use dating Web sites to find soul mates. Now, some entrepreneurs want to take that to a higher level and help you find the perfect spiritual home. 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