The first area of church tech worth discussing is the church website. That is, of course, the most basic place to start. Is it serving the purpose that you intend for it to serve?

First Things First
Before we can answer that question, there are a couple of more obvious questions that one must ask.

Does your church even have a website? and if so Does your church website HAVE a purpose?

I don’t assume that all churches require a website. I would suggest that the question of purpose be answered before one jump face first into a major expense that may or may not be needed.
Part of the purpose of a church website is to expose their congregational face to a larger variety of people. Maybe you don’t even want your face exposed, lol. If that’s the case, the church probably doesn’t need a website. But it’s more likely that a church would want to publicize their address, phone number and maybe email addresses online. If this is one’s only desire, it can be accomplished without ever spending a single dime on your own web space. You can do that for free, lots of places. But I would suggest that there must be more to it than simply a place to park an online pic of your steeple + facade.

I believe that any church should have, at a minimum:

The desire to share the gospel with any soul that hits their homepage. Of course, the homepage isn’t the place for a long sermon but it should compel the person toward Christ and point to a little more depth of information somewhere.

A reasonable amount of spiritual nourishment, free of charge. Rather you ever show up at our front door or not, you should be able to gleen some useful food for thought by browsing the pages of our websites. I am not at all opposed to paid content but I believe that any ministry that seeks to minister should be certain that their website does that.

Current information on what’s happening at your church. News and events are always happening at church. Most of us usually fill an entire Sunday bulletin with bits and pieces of info. But you check the website and they haven’t updated it since Choir Day, 2008. Ack! Newsflash, that’s a terrible turn off for potential guests and visitors. At least the ones under 35 (that’s really the only demographic that I can vouch for). I know, it’s a time consuming task and if you don’t have a pastor, secretary or other staff member who can stay on top of it it’s really asking a lot to ask a volunteer to do it. BUT you gotta do it. Pay someone if you must, but keep it updated!

That’s really all I’ve got for a min. purpose. I think if you only have those 3 things in mind, you can start and run a useful website for your church. Now for a few possible other purposes that a church website might serve that get a little deeper.

To earn a profit. There really is nothing wrong with earning a profit with your website….well maybe the word is income or revenue rather than profit. Since churches are usually nonprofit, I don’t suppose the goal is to get a profit but to sustain the ministry itself. As long as the focus is not entirely selfish in delivering content I don’t think that there is any harm in using the churches website to extend their bookstore online, for instance. Or to allow the purchase of premium content (maybe you had a 5 day seminar and you want to offer the dvd’s on your site) or to allow donations.

To provide an outlet for the pastor or other ministers to share throughout the week with their congregation. Blogging provides a great opportunity for pastors and other leaders to stay close to their people during the week. You can share on current events as they happen. You can share the stories and situations that you may have encountered through the week (being mindful of the privacy of others, of course). Life is happening all around and adding a blog to the churches website offers the opportunity to capitalize on those teachable moments as they come. Of course, email works too….but you miss the chance to let would be visitors or potential new members get a glimpse into the heart of the church. One of the biggest complaints of the net is the coldness that it seems to promote…well blogging and other social media actually go a long way in countering that coldness when used in conjunction with other things.

I’m sure there are many other purposes that one might have for creating a church website. These are just some of the things that come to my mind when I consider what I find in the church websites that keep me coming back. Hopefully, this little diatribe served it’s single purpose; to compel any person responsible for a church website to consider the purpose of that website.

More tomorrow…