The blog of bethquick.com - Sermons/Lectionary Notes/Resources for Ministry
We're about to redesign our church website, and give it a major overhaul.
Well, since you asked... my two cents:
What is the objective? If it is to serve the members of the church, I'd ask the congregation what would be useful for them.
If it is to present an outward face of the church to the community, for the purpose of evangelizing or inviting people to come to a service, that is a different objective with different requirements.
1. An address and phone number. Verify that both are correct and up to date.
2. a listing of service times and type of worship.
3. A link to denominational doctrinal principles.
4. A correct address and phone number.
5. An updated calendar of events.
6. The church's address and phone number, both of them correct.
7. If a picture of the pastor is present, it should not be featured prominently on the home page like a blinding sun giving forth holy light to the sinners.
email links for all the staff
current newsletter (pdf or html)
Here's what I tell churches that I've worked with before on this.
There are three stages you need to view a church web page as.
1. The stranger: This is the person who is just checking out your home page so that they can know when to come to worship. They don't go beyond the first page, so you need to have all the relevant Sunday morning info up there. Even though it's only one page, it's the most important for reaching out to new people.
2. The visitor: This is someone who's curious about your church. They're willing to poke around a bit at the various links to find our more about who you are. Consider this your 'brochure'. You want to make sure that in all your areas, you have some kind of statement about vision and mission, etc.,. The kind of stuff people who are 'church shopping' look for. Things in this phase are outlines of your ministries, as well as newsletters, welcome from the pastor, event calendars, etc.,.
3. The Home Team: This is for your congregation. This is where you put information that is relevant to the person who's actively involved with the church. Things like private directories of documents, like meeting minutes or committee agendas. Forums, chat areas, and discussion boards would also fit into here (oh, and e-mail listserv subscription services too!).
You want to tackle these phases in order. Get 1. down pat. Then get 2. and then when you've got a critical mass of people willing to participate, work on number 3.
The problem most churches have is that they jump right to number 3 because someone in the congregation knows how to do something cool. That's a danger to avoid. Get the foundation laid first, and then move on to the more complex stuff.
Wow... I typed a lot... sorry :). I'm a web developer transitioning to becoming a UMC pastor, so I could talk for hours in both areas :D
To piggy back on Jamison's comments - one of my favorite church web sites addressed stages 1 and 2 and had a FAQ page with questions like, "What can I wear to church? and Do I have to put money in the plate during offering? What type of worship service will I experience?" That kind of thing.
And my big gripe: a map link and/or (pref. and) very clear directions on how to get there , especially if you are not familiar with the immidiate area.
If you're going to have the church's phone #, include the office hours that someone will be able to answer it.
Our church relies heavily on their web site. In the bulletins we don't even list details of most events, they just point people to the web site. Maybe for some churches this wouldn't work, but for the age and social make-up of our church it works great.
Make sure there are good directions and give some sort of sampling of a typical worship service. Maybe a few video clips.
Maybe a faq section with an opportunity for questions to be asked in a blog format that will be emailed to someone and responded to quickly with a follow up email and post?
If you can stand pomposity and geek techno talk, you will learn a lot from Heal Your Church Website.
I've done 2 nonprofits websites and it is a lot of work. Good places to go for info and for basic design planning:
http://www.adobe.com/support/dreamweaver/layout/site_planning/
http://www.digital-web.com/articles/creating_a_site_design_plan/
If you have a committee, look at something like this:
http://www.wilsonweb.com/worksheet/pageplan.htm
It's all very do-able. You are wise to plan before you edit!
:)
d
If you can stand pomposity and geek techno talk, you will learn a lot from Heal Your Church Website.
I've done 2 nonprofits websites and it is a lot of work. Good places to go for info and for basic design planning:
Dreamweaver Support
Site Design Plan from Digital-Web
If you have a committee, look at something like this:
Planning survey from Wilson Web
It's all very do-able. You are wise to plan before you edit!
:)
d
sorry - I forgot to make the links "live" the 2nd post should work...
d
Today I met the webproducer for the site of "Living with Faith", the NPR radio program. It's very evocative, intended to create a space for things of the soul, not just information and emotional provocation.
I've spent a lot of time with those deeloping the new umc.org and what is intriguing to me is that it focuses on the people and stories of our church, not information or structure.
Story: At Christmas I was visting the SF Bay Area and wanted to go to a UMC. I am accustomed to a racially diverse, theologically open, vibrant worship experience. None of the websites of local churches I found showed pictures of the church or staff, or really gave me any sense of what I would experience when I walked in the door. I want UMC church sites to tell me if I will feel comfortable when in this place.
Sermons following the Lectionary
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
St. Paul's Lectionary Bible Study Blog
St. Paul's Book Study (Secret Message of Jesus) Blog
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