Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction
The growth of technology have been continuously posing great impact in
many aspects of human life, one of them is in the religious community and
practice. For the last few years, the adoption of information and technology for
communication in church is also growing. More and more people all around the
world are turning to the internet and social media to find personal, social, and
also religious information. The Ecclesiastical institution is devoting more and
more resources to improve their presence on the web [4 referrence].

The church, one of the organizations engaged in community service, has

a wide range of activities and transactions to accommodate the needs of the
congregation in terms of ecclesiastical activities of the church. The church would
also have a considerable amount of data in a large and fairly high complexity.
Under these conditions, the church should have integrated and centralized data
storage to facilitate the storage, management, and presentation of data.
Moreover it has also to promote congregational life.

Bajdor and Grabara (year) described the information system is formed by

the information itself. It means that the diversity and multiplicity of occurrence of

information contributed to the need for them together to categorize, which

automatically led to a certain, separate groups of information which are formed
into information systems. And the development of information system can be
drawn as a part of implementation of information with technology through
analysis, design, implementation and support.

The system can be defined as a set of interrelated components that work

together to achieve the desired results. Information technology is a combination
between computer technology (hardware & software) with telecommunications
technology (network data, images, and sounds). Thus, the definition of Whitten &
Bentley (year) concluded that the information system is an arrangement of
people, data, processes, and information technology that interact to collect,
process, store, and provide the information needed to support the organization.
.
An information system according to O'Brien & Marakas (year) is an
organized combination consisting of people, hardware, software, network
communications, data sources, rules and procedures that store, acquire,
transform, and distribute information in a organization.

But the current problems are gathering, recording and storage of data on
the church still done manually by utilizing the resources of different applications
such as paper or a program such as Word and Excel. This weakness resulted in
data storage separated and not centralized and complicate the administration of

the church employees in acquiring and managing information that requires a long
time to present a specific report. This weakness also increases the risk of data
loss, either intentionally or unintentionally.

With the implementation of data storage in DBMS (Database management

systems) is expected to help the church to eliminate data redundancy and
produce consistent data, and generated a centralized data repository and can be
equipped with integrated security and data access.

In addition, the development of information system used the web-based

application as a media renderer that specifically facilitate the congregation in
worship accessing information, news weekly, or ecclesiastical activities and
generally facilitate the congregation in accessing general information related to
the Church.

The researcher has thought of designing and developing a web-based

information system, a web portal, which will support the processes and activities
of the church-online.

Background of The Study

Let us subdue technology, let it serve Gods purpose and mission, once
said by the late Dr. Eli Javier, founder of Light of the World Christian Center
(LOWCC) Inc., a Filipino-led ministry to reach out in EVANGELISM and PLANT

CONGREGATIONS

that

are

self-propagating,

self-governing,

and

self-

supporting. LOWCC is composed of more the 50-satellite congregations

nationwide led by a 12-man member Presidium headed by a Chairman, who are
actually Senior Pastors elected among the council of Senior Pastors and
Associate/Assistant Pastors.

The advent of the computer and the other attendant compliment like
internet has led congregations using computer technologies to enhance and
promote traditional ministries: worship, fellowship, pastoral care, education,
mission and community outreach, evangelism and communications. Its
significant benefits make it fitting for ministry. Pautler (2010) noted that
technology has played a huge part in the spread of Christianity through-out
history. The first pews were introduced to churches in the 13th century. The first
organ was installed in 1361. In 1436, Gutenberg invented the printing press,
revolutionizing the spread of the Bible. Microphones, electricity and speakers
were all introduced in the 18th to 20 th centuries. Only in the last 100 or so years
were radios and TVs invented. John Brust cited by Paulter (2000) said, the
Church needs to keep up with what is going on; the church needs to be as
current as anything else out there; otherwise you will not reach the new
generation. Allen (2008) article title counselor: Digital age poses pastoral
challenges to church says it all. He pointed out that, three different
communication eras now exist in the same church community, posing a myriad of
leadership issues for today's "five-generation" church because of technological

and digital divides. One of the main reasons churches is losing young adults and
youth is because these generations cannot relate to the church. A better way to
change this is the use of information and communication technology. In this day
and age, relationships and communication within those relationships are
changing at a rapidly increasing rate. Therefore, since churches are part of the
information

community, it is necessary to

implement how information

communication technologies can be of use to a church, so as with LOWCC.

There is no centralized system yet that is being used by LOWCC. LOWCC

has become islands of information. Gathering and safe storing of information for
centralized used and safekeeping has been a challenge; for easy access and
report generation has post lots of difficulties and a struggle. Different committees
were tasked to gather and store everything manually with the use simple
applications. Information is engaged through social media like Facebook, which
isolates information to individual congregation only without others being notified
or informed of the events. Information disseminated nationwide has been difficult
and seemed slow. Pastors and members alike need information and
communication, the soonest possible.

Such challenge is faced by LOWCC, hence the proposal of the

development the Light of the World Christian Center (LOWCC) - Phils. Inc Web
Portal. This will answer all the information management and communication
greatly needed by the LOWCC. And the researcher, being one of the Senior

Pastor of one satellite congregation and one of the member of the Pastors
Council, strongly proposed the development of the said Web Portal.

Objectives of the Study

The general objective of the study was to develop Light of the World
Christian Center (LOWCC) - Phils., Inc. Web Portal.
It specifically aims to:
1. Design a web-based information management system that includes the
following features:
a. Repository of the following,
i. Database of the congregation ( national and local)
ii. Gallery of photos/images of events and ecclesiastical
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.

activities (national and local)

Information for worship services
Information on the Bible, or other scriptures
Devotional resources.
Information for education programs

(training

materials),
vii. Information on matters of doctrine
viii. Information on other denominations and faiths.
ix. Information on matters of faith.
x. Information of locations/vicinity map of congregations
xi. Information of missions and evangelistic outreaches
b. Sign-up feature for new members, classes and programs,
c. Space for prayer requests,
d. Discussion space for study or prayer groups,
e. Discussion space for inquiries and questions (Ask Your Pastor),
f. Podcasts (audio and video)
g. Blogs and forum and,
h. Chat
2. Develop the web portal as designed utilizing the following open source
web technologies:
a. PHP as the web programming language,
b. HTML, CSS and JavaScript for web development and design,

c. MySQL as database management system,

d. Word Press as text editor during programming,
e. XAMPP as provider of an Apache web server and MySQL
connection,
f. Web browser for output viewing, and
g. free web hosting used to upload the system online for testing and
evaluation purposes;
3. Test the online reservation and monitoring system based on:
a. Functionality, which assessed the behavior of certain modules of
the web portal after the tests conducted, and
b. Portability, which pertained to the multiple

web

browser

performance of the web-based information management system;

and
4. Evaluate the online reservation and monitoring system in terms of the
ISO

9126

functionality,

software
reliability,

quality

standard

usability,

characteristics,

efficiency,

namely:

maintainability

and

portability.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The study covers the development of Light of the World Christian Center
(LOWCC) - Phils., Inc. Web Portal. It systematized the manual process of
storage, management, presentation and communication. It improved the existing
process by indicating the current problems concerning gathering, recording and
storage of data on the church which is still done manually by utilizing the
resources of different applications such as paper or a program such as Word and
Excel. This weakness which resulted in data storage separated and not
centralized and which complicated the administration of the church records in

acquiring and managing information that requires a long time to present a

specific report will be attended by this systematized process. The web portal also
prevented, if not minimized the risk of data loss, either intentionally or
unintentionally.
In addition, LOWCC-Phils Web Portal has five user levels; specifically the
website

administrator,

the

content

administrator,

the

congregations

representative, who is usually the senior pastor, the congregations member and
the guest/visitor. They must initially log in or provide their log-in credentials,
except the guest/visitor, to gain full or controlled access to LOWCC-Phils Web
Portal.

The website administrator has the highest privilege in maintaining the web
portal. The administrator can access the source code and has the capability to
modify and improve the looks and operations of the LOWCC-Phils Web Portal,

The content administrator has the privilege of the content management

system inclusive of the following modules: add, edit, view and delete information;
retrieve, update and delete a system user; view, modify or change status of
membership from pending to approved or disapproved; view information from the
database grouped according to status such as pending, approved, disapproved
or postponed which can be filtered down to specified date range of action;

postpone or defer approved membership; create report for congregation; view

the audit trail system; and manage congregations representative accounts.

The congregations representative, on the other hand has the ability to do

the following in the developed web-based information management system:
participates, attends, suggests, answers, recommends, and ministers to all
questions, discussions, prayer request, blogs, and inquiries.

The congregations member likewise has full access to all information;

enroll in a program of training; enter or join in any discussion or blog; enter a
prayer request; and/or enjoy all privileges pertaining to being a member.

Whereas, the guest/visitor has limited or restricted access to some

information or as define by the content administrator and congregations
representative.

The LOWCC-Phils. Inc. Web portal, at the moment is not capable of

attending to other transactions such as receiving online donations or pledges or
any online financial transactions. Online programs or classes are on the basis of
having a controlled access to all or some training materials or studies available

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online. The programs/classes are yet to be determined and decided by the

presidium.

Moreover, to evaluate the acceptability of Light of the World Christian

Center- Phils. Inc. Web Portal, thirty (30) respondents from randomly-selected
congregation were randomly-selected to assess the system by filling out the
software questionnaire derived from the characteristics of the ISO 9126 software
quality model. The groups of respondents were composed of respondents who
are IT/ICT practitioners/literate, including members of the pastors council and
respondents who are from other fields besides the IT industry, including
personnel from the congregation or the members.

The system is only capable of adding new users for the congregation
representative level. Generating further system accounts under the higher
administrative levels is not provided for security purposes. By default, LOWCCPHILS Web portal has one website administrator account and one content
administrator account.
Also, in the process of membership, an individual must first seek approval
of their request from their respective congregations and cell groups before
proceeding to the portal.

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Conceptual Model of the Study

Microsoft Productivity tools have been used in the preparations of the
foregoing concepts, theories and findings of related literature present studies and
insights. Hence, a conceptual model of the developed web portal in the form of
an IPO model is developed as shown on the next page.
The Input-Process-Output (IPO) model is a useful diagram that ascertains
the inputs, outputs, and essential processing tasks required to transform inputs
into outputs. It is sometimes, as discussed by Schembri (2012), configured to
include any storage that might happen in the process as well. The inputs
represent the flow of data and materials into the process from the outside. The
processing step includes all tasks required to effect a transformation of the
inputs. The outputs are the data and materials flowing out of the transformation
process.

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Figure 1. Light of the World Christian Center (LOWCC) - Phils. Inc

Web Portal
Figure 1 shows the conceptual model of Light of the World Christian
Center (LOWCC) - Phils. Inc Web Portal. It presents the different stages that
were undertaken to achieve the objectives of this study.
Based on the shown figure, the first set of information comprised the input
of the study. It includes the knowledge requirements, software requirements and
hardware requirements needed to fulfill the study.

Knowledge Requirements. Knowledge requirements incorporate the

knowledge required in fulfilling the developed system Light of the World

13

Christian Center (LOWCC) - Phils. Inc Web Portal. These are LOWCC
Database information, web development and design, database management
system and content management system.

Software Requirements These are the computer software used in

developing the system. PHP was used for scripting or web programming while
HTML, CSS and JavaScript were used for web development and design. MySQL
was used for the database management system. A web browser was also used
to view the output. XAMPP was used during the development, testing and
revision phase of the system. It has an Apache web server and MySQL
connection. WordPress was used as text editor during web programming. Lastly,
a web hosting x20.hosting was used in deploying the reservation and
monitoring system for testing and evaluation procedures.
Hardware Requirements. They include the technical requirements of the
developed system. A desktop computer with a processor with at least Intel Core
i3 processor, a RAM of at least 2GB, Hi-RES (1024 x 576) high-definition screen
display as specifications and an Internet Service Provider with at least 3mbps
speed was needed to use the system.

The discussion on the input is succeeded by the description of the

Process. It specifies the processes needed in fulfilling the development of
LOWCC-Phils Web Portal. It includes analysis, design, development, testing and

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revision. The third box contains the Output indicating the developed LOWCCPhils Web Portal. After the development stage, the system underwent preliminary
and final evaluation based on ISO 9126 software quality standard. Results of the
evaluation provided room for technical improvements of Reservio.

Significance of the Study

The study will be beneficial to the following:
Light of the World Community
This study can be of great significance to the Light of the World Christian
Center Phils. Inc. Congregations. The study will accommodate the needs of
the congregations as to facilitating the integration and centralized data storage to
facilitate the storage, management, presentation of data and communication.
LOWCC-Phils. Inc. Web Portal not just systematize the congregations
transactions and ecclesiastical activities but also prevents or minimizes the risk
of data loss, data redundancy, produce consistent data and generate a
centralized data repository and can be equipped with integrated security and
data access

The Pastors
This study will benefit the Pastors with updated information, prompt
communication, easy access information, and timely information.

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Congregation-Members
This undertaking is of great significance to the whole community of
LOWCC. They will enjoy continues pastoral care through the web portal and the
relationship of the whole body of believers. Fresh news, and bulletins from other
congregations will no more be a problem.

Guest / Visitors / Non-members

Opportunity to evangelize and reach the un-reached is widened. They will
be encouraged with the events and happenings; with news and updates; and
with the testimonies of answered prayers.

The Researcher
The researcher benefited from this study as it gave him an in-depth
knowledge on system development and an opportunity to enhance his technical
skills. Finally, this study is the application of the theories she has learned
throughout her stay in the School of Continuing Professional Education of the
University of Makati. It enriched her experience as an instructor/Trainor in the
College of Computer Science.

Future Researchers

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This can be an instrument for the improvement of various researches that

are related to the study.

Operational Definition of Terms

To better understand the concepts presented in this study, the following
terms are operationally defined:
Light of the World Christian Center (LOWCC) - Phils. Inc Web Portal
refers to the system that is developed purposively for the information storage,
management, presentation of data and communication for the LOWCC body.
Presidium is governing body of Light of the World Christian Center.
Content Administrator has the privilege of the content management
system inclusive of the following modules: add, edit, view and delete information;
retrieve, update and delete a system user; view, modify or change status of
membership from pending to approved or disapproved; view information from the
database grouped according to status such as pending, approved, disapproved
or postponed which can be filtered down to specified date range of action;
postpone or defer approved membership; create report for congregation; view
the audit trail system; and manage congregations representative accounts.
Congregations Representative has the ability to do the following in the
developed web-based information management system: participates, attends,

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suggests, answers, recommends, and ministers to all questions, discussions,

prayer request, blogs, and inquiries.
Congregations member has full access to all information; enroll in a
program of training; enter or join in any discussion or blog; enter a prayer
request; and/or enjoy all privileges pertaining to being a member.
ISO or International Organization for Standardization is the worlds largest
developer of voluntary International Standards. International Standards give state
of the art specifications for products, services and good practice, helping the
industry become more efficient and effective. The ISO 9126 standard was used
in the evaluation of the acceptability of the developed system.
CMS or content management system is a computer application that allows
publishing, editing and modifying content, organizing, deleting as well as
maintenance from a central interface. Such systems of content management
provide procedures to manage workflow in a collaborative environment. The
CMS for Reservio is accessible to designated system and facility administrators.
DBMS or database management system refers to a specially designed
software application that interacts with the user, other applications, and the
database itself to capture and analyze data. Reservios DBMS is written using
MySQL.
Apache is a freely available Web server that is distributed under an "open
source" license. Version 2.0 runs on most UNIX-based operating systems (such
as Linux, Solaris, Digital UNIX, and AIX), on other UNIX/POSIX-derived systems

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(such as Rhapsody, BeOS, and BS2000/OSD), on AmigaOS, and on Windows

2000. This web server was locally used during programming through the
application called XAMPP.