The City - What is it?

I’ve written just briefly about The City, but as we get closer to launching the pilot version, I’m going to write much more. So let’s kick this off with a high level review of what The City is all about.

What is it?

The City is an online meeting place for Mars Hill that ties together existing community groups, service groups, and interest/strategically-based affiliations into a social network. This social fabric undergirds many forms of ministry and greatly enables the Ground War. It also enables linking the Ground War of many large communities (ie. networks of churches).

What are key themes in The City?

• Attractional - The City invites those not yet connected to form deeper relationships, get more involved, and become on mission with Mars Hill
• Developmental - The City is designed to show you the next step according to serving in your area of gifting
• Content Finds its Target - The City shows you information that you need/want to see (which you can fine tune). It does not deluge you with so much unimportant information that managing your involvement at Mars Hill through The City becomes a part time job. It also doesn’t show you information you shouldn’t be able to see.
• Administration at the Edge - The City is not centrally managed; every group leader is given the tools and ongoing training they need to effectively lead those they’ve been entrusted. For those business book readers, it’s more like a Starfish than a Spider.
• Real, not Virtual, Community - The City is all about real relationships, real ministry, real life and community change.

How is The City built?

The City is a Ruby on Rails 2.0.1 custom application developed and designed internally at Mars Hill. If you’re a developer or designer and a member of Mars Hill, come hang out with us and get involved.

Why not use another white label social network? (like Ning, etc.)

Stated simply, Mars Hill changes frequently and we need to have the agility to keep up with a rapidly changing organization. I also didn’t want to be tied into a vendor’s release schedule for new features…if we want to make something happen, we can do it.

When will it be available for Mars Hill?

Pastor Brad and I are working through the deployment schedule, but the bottom line is that it will be with Community Groups first, so get plugged into your group, go to the Syncs, and you’ll hear more in the next two months. A lot more.

Over the next several installments, I’ll describe each of the design principles in more detail, giving examples of what those principles mean in the life of The City. My last post, “Location, Location, Location” gave a preview of what favoring Real Community over Virtual Community, but I’ll outline this more fully.

I’m personally very excited about what will be happening through this avenue in the coming year, and I’d ask for your prayers for the team and the faithful volunteers that make all this happen.