Web 2.0 is growing rapidly in cyberspace. I knew that, but I hadn’t realized how much it had done so for Christians until I found Joe’s blog through the church technology review blog. Joe has kept an eye on things (I’d like to know how) and has updated his list since it was reprinted by the church technology review.

It is an interesting list. (I am tempted to reproduce it in case it disappears some day, but thanks to Google Notebook, I don’t have to worry about the information becoming unavailable.) The only one missing is MyChurch, because that’s the location of Joe’s own blog.

In the midst of the list, Joe lists Connect Our People as one of the social networking services. I haven’t gone through the whole list, but thus far I’m not sure that COP really belongs there. As far as I can see at this point, the only service with a congregational interest is MyChurch–but I’m not seeing any provisions for denominational networking. I would make other comments about what’s missing, but I can’t be sure that I may be missing something.

All of these sites seem geared more for individuals on the web. Most don’t even give much place to the church in how they are structured.

Connect Our People is different from the rest in that it starts with a congregation and networks into a denomination if desired. While it has some features for identifying oneself, it isn’t primarily interested in self-expression in the way that myspace or facebook is. It doesn’t provide a blog, for example, and it isn’t really properly a “website” at all. One can’t make one’s membership page available to the general public. Rather, it is a tool for encouraging community in churches, regional church organizations, and denominations.

I’m not saying other things aren’t valid (hey, don’t expect me to knock blogging on this blog!). I’m just saying that COP has a different purpose and functions than most social networking sites.