The sermons heard ’round the world

At least 10 Mennonite churches offer audio files of their sermons online.

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Listening to a sermon anywhere, anytime is possible. At least 10 Mennonite churches use iTunes™, podcasting and sermon.net to offer audio files of their sermons. A podcast is an audio file distributed over the Internet that can be played back on computers and portable media players, like an iPod or other mp3 player.

Kidron (Ohio) Mennonite Church, West End Mennonite Fellowship and East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church (ECSMC), both in Lancaster, Pa., are among Mennonite churches that use SermonNet to publish their sermons on the Web that are downloadable to iTunes™.
Larry Zook, of East Chestnut Street, says he is enthused about putting sermons online because he remembers the two years he spent with his family in China and how meaningful it was to listen to audio cassettes of the church services mailed from East Chestnut Street.
“With sermons being online it is much easier for [people] living in other areas to keep in touch,” he says. “It’s a small world these days.”

Zook lists people that the online sermons could benefit:

• missionaries and service workers serving around the world,

• older members not able to attend services who can access the Internet,

• current members who are traveling,

• former members who have moved out of the area and value keeping in touch,

• current members who were present Sunday morning and would like to hear a sermon again because it was especially meaningful,

• current members who would like to share the sermon with a friend,

• current members who wish to invite someone to church and get a feel for the pastors,

• visitors who are considering joining the church,

• family members of ECSMC members.

East Chestnut Street started using SermonNet in April. So far they have an average of 25 listens per sermon.

Visitors to sermon.net can access and listen to the sermons in several ways: subscribe to podcasts via Apple iTunes™, an mp3 download that can be recorded to a CD or played on other portable audio players or by listening directly from the site. The sermon downloads are also available for mobile devices such as cell phones or PDAs with Internet connection.

College Mennonite Church (CMC), Goshen, Ind., streams video live from worship services and other special events and archives them on the site for one year. Pastor Willie Kanagy says they hope to start podcasting in May. He says the other pastors and elders have wondered how video streaming affects church attendance. But the question remains unanswered, and they have not found a way to measure it.

Kanagy says he does know the benefit: The videos from CMC reach people across the country and world according to phone calls and emails CMC receives.

The video is also streamed live every Sunday morning to Greencroft Retirement Community in Goshen.

“That probably affects our attendance more than anything else,” Kanagy says, “especially on a cold winter Sunday morning.”—Anna Groff

Correction: In the June 3 article about podcasts, Waterford Mennonite Church, Goshen,Ind., should not have been listed as offering podcasts of sermons.

Related Resources

News story: "The sermons heard 'round the world"

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• Discussion Guide I - June 8, 2008
• Discussion Guide II - June 15, 2008

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