Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Church Web Sites, But Were Afraid to Ask

Do you want to create a web site for your church, but have no idea where to start?
Are there no technically gifted people in your staff or congregation?
Are you afraid that creating and maintaining a web site for your church will cost too much?
Think your church is too small to create a dynamic web presence?
Are you really confused about all this stuff?

RELAX! It's not as hard as you think. Really. If you can type (and all of us can, to varying degrees), then you can create and maintain a web site for your church. Honestly! No technical expertise required!

Where Do I Start?

This is the most often-asked question among churches and pastors that want to create an online church web presence. All the talk of web sites, domain names, chat rooms, email newsletters, discussion boards, etc… has them so confused that often times they throw their arms up in despair and decide to forget the whole thing. So start by thinking less technically. Hopefully these suggestions will help.

1: Understand the unique potential of the Internet

The Internet, like it or not, is here to stay. It gives churches of all sizes an opportunity to reach people where they are, whether that is across the street or around the world.

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2: Determine your audience

A good writer does not write a book without first determining who will read the book after it is written. The same thing is true of any web site (not just church ones). You should determine who your audience is before you ever think about establishing a web presence. A good church web site will cater to three very distinct audiences: 1) church members, 2) Christians moving into the area looking for a church home, and 3) non-Christians. Most church web sites are good at catering to #1 and #2, but leave out #3 entirely.

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3: Identify a web team

The biggest pitfall that churches run into is that they have a person in the congregation who is really enthusiastic about creating a web site, but less enthusiastic about maintaining it. Or worse yet, the volunteer moves on and leaves the church with no one who knows how to update the site! This is where site template companies can help.

The web team can be a team of 20 people or just a single person. The church webmaster or web team needs to have a clear job description and encouragement from the church leadership in their role. If this person is not a part of the church leadership, then there needs to be a clear line of responsibility to the church leadership. Many church web efforts fail because role expectations and support are not established up front BEFORE work begins on the web site.

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Church Template Providers: An alternative way to create a church website

4: Learn how to make your site attractive to non-Christians

A church web site should be evangelistic; not simply a brochure for your church. Learn how non-Christians think. Learn how to express Christian ideas in non-Christian language. Include members’ life-changing stories. Include a gospel presentation.

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