Recently I was chatting with a few friends separately about Linux and using it in Churches. This got me thinking about what Churches might need, rather than about how to get Linux onto Church computers.
My friend Wesley and I were chatting about using the Dansguardian filtering software on a main firewall server at his Church’s office. He initially wanted to install it on the desktop computers there, and then had the good idea to rather install it on a central server.
Earlier in the week, my friend Paul was wondering if his open source project for Church websites was possibly being rendered unnecessary by the plethora of excellent open source content management systems out there. Knowing that there’s a gap when it comes to open source Church membership management systems, I suggested a new direction for his project.
Then just yesterday my friend Raphaël, the founder of the Ichthux project, was wondering if Ichthux was really necessary anymore. He said that in a way, trying to force people to use open source software was infringing on their freedom to choose what software they want to use.
The combination of these conversations made me wonder if perhaps there’s a need for a Church server solution. One that acts as a firewall, a content filter, as well as a server for church membership management software, church service management software, and any other server-centered software that a Church might find useful. It could have a nice web interface to configure it and all the software installed on it.
What do you think? Do you think there’s a “market” for a Linux server distribution for Churches, one that would be easy to install, setup and maintain?
Also, would you be interested in helping out with any of the above projects? I know both Ichthux and openchurch could do with folks to help out with development and other things.
Filed under: Christianity, Development, Software
Raoul, I think you are right on with this. Especially, with the financial shape of many churches right now. Our church is currently about 80% opensource in software and about 65% opensource on the operating system level. It has been a considerable cost savings and also eliminates the burden of licensing issues, but if you start at the server level that solves many of the problems churches have, and many of the most expensive.
I’m not so sure if this would be the real deal. To me, open source is all about choosing what I want to do, deciding myself what software to use.
The problem with these “christian” versions I had myself, e.g. Ubuntu CE, was that some software couldn’t be used because of the preinstalled stuff (Dansguardian) and it wasn’t all to easy to remove Dansguardian.
So what I would rather love to see are meta-packages. Offer a meta-debian package, that only relies on the components that are neccessary and include an configuration tool. So this meta package could install dansguardian, the membership management software, apache, whatever else is neccessary and offer some help with the exhausting configuration, especially for the unexperienced admin.
Just my two cents.
That’s pretty much what I was thinking of. Not an actual new distro, just a meta package in Ubuntu.
Hi Raoul,
I don’t know much about it but I did spot Ubuntu Christian Edition the other day.
http://ubuntuce.com/
Darren.
Yes, I know about that project. It’s a desktop derivative of Ubuntu Desktop, which is not what I’m proposing.
Patrick, Raoul, I certainly understand what you mean it would be great for our church for example that has an existing Ubuntu server install to just simply apt-get the new packages, but a prepackaged distro might really help the technically challenged also.
Server distro’s that are definitley worth checking out:
eBox (based on Ubuntu Hardy LTS) –also has desktop auth
— http,ftp,imap/pop3/smtp,antivirus,VOIP,Jabber,VPN(s), Windows PDC & Fileserver.
with a lovely web-based AJAX-enabled interface.
http://www.ebox-platform.com
SME server
similar goals to eBox but a heavily modified CentOS.
http://www.contribs.org
I have ISO’s for both, and am currently testing them in VirtualBox. If you’re in Pretoria/Midrand, then you could get the ISOs from me. Ask Raoul for my email.
Another real challenge is the “selling” of the FLOSS idea and useability. I know it works, but how do we cross the great “resistance to change” divide.
To be honest, I think the only resistance is when you want to install it on their desktop system. Most Churches don’t really care about servers, they just want something that works.
I think this would be great! Especially “a server for church membership management software, church service management software, and any other server-centered software that a Church might find useful.”
I would love to do some testing. I have a little experience with Fedora and currently run Ubuntu on a desktop at home.
Having used Dansguardian and Squid on out network and it proved too much of a pain stopping direct access to the internet and putting in exceptions for software updates.
Have moved to OpenDNS much easier to enforce, monitor and administer.
As it is the network DNS it is difficult to get round.
I’ve thought about this a bit. I don’t think a Christian distribution as such is necessary, but what would be really handy would be complete documentation that even someone who’s not a Linux expert can follow to get a working church server up and going in as short a time as possible, and then allow for typical maintenance tasks like adding users etc.
I’m OS agnostic, and realise that Windows will probably be in use at least somewhere in the church.
Things on my list of server requirements:
1. File server able to operate as Windows domain controller.
2. Mail and calendar server (Lots of people use Outlook so must support this.) Looked at Scalix – free outlook connector up to 10 users, but couldn’t get it working with an internal only domain (Outlook connector worked fine though)
3. Content filtering.
4. Database server for various things eg library database for books/DVDS etc.
5. Backup system.
I’ve used Centos with Webmin for admin for my church, although I’d be happy to look at any distro, as long as the process is simple.
It could be that we won’t have to “reinvent the wheel.” If I can find a spare DVD drive around here somewhere, I hope to spend time this coming weekend playing with Amahi server (http://www.amahi.org) on a salvaged XP machine (after I wash its sins away by baptizing it in Linux). I don’t yet know enough about the project to know where it’s headed, but in concept it’s the sort of thing that’s being discussed here. Right now Amahi requires Fedora, but they’re making all the right noises about producing an Ubuntu-based version.
I think that a church-centric distribution would be great, but it would require an army of volunteers. Linux is a scary unknown to many people and those with little patience to learn it will ignore the fruits to avoid the “hassle”
I know this sounds cynical, but I have seen it many times. Unless the product is polished and simplified when it comes to the applications, many will flee from it.
That being said, administrators would love an comprehensive solution and those with little to no “computer budget”, like my church, would benefit tremendously.
I have renewed my work on my own Church Management software and couple of other open source projects, and would be happy to contribute to this project. Let me know whenyou guys are ready to get started!
I would like to see this project come to past. I have been involved in many different departments of the church. I know that it would be a great thing for large and small churches and ministries. I have used Linux for about 5 years and the upfront cost would be great for churches starting out. I am not a programmer but i would be more that willing to be a tester. I am all in lets go.
check out untangle at http://www.untangle.com for an opensource server package that has everything in one package already – an easy way to get started for any church.
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