Church web sites

[Ron Davis]

An article in our local newspaper reported that teens are turning to the Internet in increasing numbers for spiritual guidance. How many of your churches have a web site? If you have one is it a marketing site for your church or is it a source of spiritual guidance for your community?

[Hans Deventer]

We have one at http://www.nazarene.nl. It is mainly informative since the Church of the Nazarene is not so well known in our country.

[Ron Davis]

After clicking on "Preview Poll" then "Post new Poll" the thread displayed my thread with your reply already there. Does the thread appear prior to finishing the poll set up?

[Brad Mercer]

Our website, www.newstart-frisco.com, is primarily informational. It has a simplified statement of our articles of faith, a link to our official articles of faith, a statement of our vision, values and purpose, all of our sermons for the past four months in an audio format, and a message board that is available, though hardly ever used, for questions, comments or discussion. It also has an e-mail address for contacting us, as well as links to the denominational site and the district site.

Beyond just the information it gives out, a person would need to actually interact with a person, either by phone, e-mail or the message board, to receive any kind of actual "spiritual guidance" from it. We do periodically have a visitor in church or someone who calls or e-mails us after finding our website.

I'd be interested in hearing more about how or whether churches use their websites for effective spiritual guidance beyond just an explanation of what the inquirer will find if he or she takes the first tentative steps into community. Ultimately I don't think any spiritual guidance is really guiding the seeker to anything valuable if it's not leading him or her into real relationship and community. So any guidance the website offered would of necessity have to be just tentative and introductory. The deepest, truest stuff happens among real, genuinely mutually loving friends, not by reading up on it.

Brad

[Ron Davis]

I agree with you 100% that true spiritual guidance takes community. Isn't it possible though to provide spiritual guidance on a web site that would ultimately draw seekers into the community of faith.

That is the project I am working on right now. The web site will be local in content. The intent is to have a link to a couple of blogs that will present two different viewpoints. The site is also designed for teens which are the ones the article was about. Beyond the web site the ultimate goal is a brick and mortar place for teens to gather.

[Larry Osweiler]

I am really questioning the validity of church websites. I find so many church websites that are out of date. And much of the information very basic. I can't tell you how many websites I come across that don't even have info on current staff members including the pastor.
I also find many websites where churches are leaving themselves wide open for a lawsuit. Pictures of children on websites would be the biggest problem I see. If you don't have the parent's permission to put their kids picture on the internet, then no pictures should be allowed. All it takes is one parent to sue the church.
One person in our church asked if we were going to have a "forum" on our site. I asked her who was going to monitor it. I also asked her how she would deal with all the nutcases who wrote in. I'm sure our moderators here at Naznet encounter a few from left field who pop in from time to time.
We are developing a website as I speak. We are leaning more towards a very simple and basic site. And how much info do you really put on a site? I'm more for the basic info on the church and maybe some spiritual guidance stuff to go along with it.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I have tried to intentionally do ministry on our church website. There is a page on "How to be saved" and weekly sermons are posted there.

We update the page each month with material from the church newsletter, including the church calendar.

If the webpage isn't going to be kept current, then I think it should not have any events listed. Put the church address, with a map, contact information, and schedule. Still, a few photos will make it look better.

Model the website after a business page. Don't make it "pretty" or "cute" -- make it look on purpose.

Just a few thoughts off the top of my head.

[Cindi Hammons]

How about:

Yes--and it stinks!

The idea was good when it was started, but now it is rarely updated or used. We have a compassionate ministry center that has a page on our site that is updated frequently...but not the rest of the site.

Cindi H.

[Marsha Gupton]

My church's website is www.nfcn.org It probably falls into the mostly informational category.

[Ron Davis]

I am really questioning the validity of church websites. I find so many church websites that are out of date. And much of the information very basic. I can't tell you how many websites I come across that don't even have info on current staff members including the pastor.
I also find many websites where churches are leaving themselves wide open for a lawsuit.


The church web sites you describe here fail to have any value at all. My web site will require registering in order to participate in the interactive portions and will be restricted to the local target audience. Content will be updated at least weekly. I know this is not something everyone can do but our plans for the web site are to make it a significant resource for teens in our community.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

By the way, I just finished taking what I learned about setting things up so that people can listen to mp3 files with Windows Media Player and set it up for the sermons on our church web site. I now have mp3 and WMP links for each sermon. The actual file is the same one, but the links go to playlists formated for the 2 different ways to listen.

I am hoping that more people will listen now, as just about all Windows computers have Windows Media Player already installed. To listen to mp3 they have to know enough to download and install a player.

www.alvinnazarene.org (http://www.alvinnazarene.org)

[Gary Swartzlander]

www.jaxnaz.com is more of a communication tool than marketing, we now have messages available on the site and people are using that. The number of tapes requested each week has dropped since the messages have been available on the site.

Our site is updated weekly from the church office.

[Scott Webb]

Our church website is embarassing to say the least. The person in charge is a full-time staff person who reports directly to the Sr. Pastor. Can you add another choice to your poll for those with sites that are outdated and not a spiritual guidance site or marketing site?

[John Kennedy]

Why don't more web sites show pictures of the building/s (exterior) and interior (especially the sanctuary)?
I realize by asking that kind of question, I've exposed my superficiality and have undoubtedly forgotten that the church is the people, not the building, yada, yada, yada.

[Rick Morton]

Here is a web site from a former pastor and friends Michael and Mandy Farmer.And this is a great site about family, friends, church and the way to do it.

http://thefarmersplace.org

[Joel Merrill]

The church I go to now doesn't have one and I don't know if they want one. There are people in the church who could do it.

Around 5 years ago I got a web site and an email address for the church I used to go to. The board gave their approval. They have had 4 or 5 pastors since then. (That's another story)The web site listed the pastor and church board that were there 5 years ago. I reminded them many times that it was out of date. It is just now being up dated for the first time. No one ever checked the email and it went dorment a long time ago. If you are going to have one, keep it up or get rid of it.

Joel

[Ron Davis]

Our church website is embarassing to say the least. The person in charge is a full-time staff person who reports directly to the Sr. Pastor. Can you add another choice to your poll for those with sites that are outdated and not a spiritual guidance site or marketing site?

I'd be glad to if I knew how.

[Stan Hall]

I've been trying to keep our site www.lsnazarene.com updated. It's also primarily informational. I post our pastor's "Rear-View Mirror" article from the bulletin each week. We also have pictures and even a video clip from our Christmas program. Our pastor and his wife provide foster care for a number of special needs kids and I strive to make sure they aren't included in the pictures.

[Gary Swartzlander]

I've been trying to keep our site www.lsnazarene.com updated. It's also primarily informational. I post our pastor's "Rear-View Mirror" article from the bulletin each week. We also have pictures and even a video clip from our Christmas program. Our pastor and his wife provide foster care for a number of special needs kids and I strive to make sure they aren't included in the pictures.

One piece of information that was really hard for me to find was "where in the world is Lees Summit"? I finally found Missouri (I think) someplace on the contact us page. Adding that to the home page might be helpful? Just a thought.

[Stan Hall]

Good point Gary! I'll try to update the page this weekend. I guess the site was primarily intended for people in the Kansas City area who might come to our church and most would then know where Lee's Summit is. It's just southeast of Kansas City, Missouri.

Stan

[Mark Bolerjack]

A lot of times when on the computer in the evening, I will look at church web sites, linking from the COTN home page, then the find a church page. I always look for the location, the pastor and staff to see if I know them, and pictures of the church, inside and out. Then if something else grabs me, I will look at other parts of the site. It is amazing the churches that do not even post important information, and the ones that are not kept up to date.

[Charlene Clevenger]

One piece of information that was really hard for me to find was "where in the world is Lees Summit"? I finally found Missouri (I think) someplace on the contact us page. Adding that to the home page might be helpful? Just a thought.


That's something that bothers me about a lot of church sites. I happen upon them while browsing, and wonder where the church is located...sometimes I can't find it anywhere.

[Larry Osweiler]

Our insurance company, Brotherhood Mutual recommended that we not post pictures or videos of children on our website without the written permission of the parents of each child in the picture or video. They reminded us that pictures of your children would be going out over the entire internet for everyone to see.
We just decided to keep away from posting anything with children or youth to be safe.
All it takes is one parent to sue or one pervert to make things difficult for your church.

[Pete Vecchi]

We are currently trying to get something together, and I'm sure it will likely be both spirirual and "marketing".

The two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.

[Shawn Flynn]

I think that many are missing the boat on maintaining a site, partly because they are not sure want's possible. If you are having difficulty then may I suggest googling "content management system" or CMS for short.

The idea behind CMS is to separate the content from the form or layout of a website. Basically you setup your layout and then manage your content all from within a text box just like I'm typing in now. You don't have to see too much code becuase it's almost all done for you once you setup your layout, which is sometimes a difficult.

One the better FREE CMS projects is Mambo.

SF

[Bob Evans]

When I raised money for the mission they were vital to my work. In order for me to present the ministry of themission in culturally relevant language to that church I spent alot of time researching all I could find out about the church.

I think their a wast of time if there not attended to on a regular basis with new and up to date information. I think a picture is worth a thousand words although that sets up some other issues. I also appreciate something timly from the pastor or church leaders to give the new web seacher a heart for the church. Quality makes a difference as well. Expertice and or money contribute to the effectivness of a web sight