Honestly, I direct the curious here most often:

Nostr - Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays

Communities are still a work in progress, but you can simply run a private relay that only allows read and write with a whitelist.

gm pastor. simple starter →

Vector Privacy

Privacy by Principle

has a plain-english “getting started in 5 min” walkthrough, covers making a key, finding your first relays, and dropping straight into nip-17 dm’s (private giftwrap style, so the feds can stay mad). group chats are already live in Vector,create one, invite your flock, messages stay fully encrypted. no fancy community spec needed, just works. won’t shill too hard, but: free, open-source (MIT), built for exactly this escape-the-cage scenario. toss me questions once the crew is on,i’ll chill in the group >;) stay based, viktor

Thank you @The Beave, I will have to work out how but I’m sure it can’t be too difficult

Wow! Pastor Gary that’s a tremendous endeavor! I have similar aspirations and I’m building the foundations for what I want to see for my community at @npub1w4rz...382j and also my local church. While I wish my Learn Nostr guide on my website was fully fleashed out, I have learned a lot of running relays for communities like churches for communication. Just like with most things nostr, it’s not the most user friendly but is definitely the most censorship resistant when done right! When setting up a community type group - The most important part is the relay. I am running Hodlbods ’frith’ relay. Once you have this relay connected to a website, that is the key to running a nostr group. The tool you use on the front end is called ‘Flotilla’ you can download that from the App Stores, visit the website, or host it yourself for the most sovereign experience. 

Thank you Logen, you have given me some homework

The church is now being pushed to do something, I have been trying to get them to move for a few years. Sadly while many want to change from legacy social media and finance, only a few will make the move

I use an old raspberry pi 4gb to host the relay and front-end

GitHub

GitHub - coracle-social/frith: A relay which enforces authentication based on custom policy

A relay which enforces authentication based on custom policy - coracle-social/frith

GitHub

GitHub - coracle-social/flotilla: A nostr relay-based communities PWA modeled after discord

A nostr relay-based communities PWA modeled after discord - coracle-social/flotilla

I just told my wife I think I have a use for the old raspberry pi soon my desk and then I got your note 😁

🤘💜🤘

That’s wonderful pastor and that’s an important step to getting your congregants somewhere where their voices won’t be censored. For the guide, are you looking for a Nostr 101 that explains Nostr basics in say 5 pages max ?

That’s amazing! Would love to help you get setup if you hit a snag.  

Only a few ever do make the move, that’s inevitable. Best thing we can do is be ready for them when they are capable to make the switch.

I’m sure I will be in touch, I’m technically challenged at times

Yes! In fact, I was planning to get in touch with you in the next week or so.

Flotilla Social

Experience a new way to connect with your community online. Join an existing community space or launch your very own branded platform tailored to y...

is pretty close to ready for normal people to use. Send me a DM or message and we can get up to speed!

@ hodlbod I’ve DM’d you

This is the guide that got me into Nostr. Hope it helps!