Webbing the church

The Internet is no longer a fad. The gold rush – both boom and bust – has passed, leaving behind a less sensational but greatly matured medium for communication.

This makes it a wonderful time, then, for churches to get started on the Web or to become more serious about an existing Web presence. Many churches now treat their website as one of their ministries, sometimes even with paid staff to oversee it. In our denomination, many quality church websites have cropped up over the last few years.

While the crème de la crème is growing, there’s still a lot of sour milk underneath: sites with content and design long past their “best before” date.

The right people

Many problems stem from finding the right balance between church involvement and professional help. Here are two fictional examples.

Church A budgets enough money to hire a professional Web design firm. They send a rough outline of what they want along with some text and photos and then leave most of the decisions up to the company they’ve hired. Eventually the firm presents the finished site: it’s attractive, dynamic, well-organized, and full of content that is now a few months out of date.

Since the budget is spent and updates can only be done by the design firm, the church makes do with the site the way it is. It doesn’t seem to attract many visitors and eventually becomes an embarrassment, so more money is budgeted for a new site from a new design firm.

Church B wants a website but can’t justify the expense to create one professionally. Since the church secretary already does a wonderful job creating bulletins, newsletters and flyers, the website is added to her job description.

Unfortunately, the skills required to design the site do not exactly coincide with the secretary’s skills. The site is updated regularly with bulletins, minutes of meetings, event flyers, and copies of practically every other document that passes through the secretary’s computer. Missing is cohesion, a simple navigation structure, an eye-pleasing layout, and any content created specifically with website viewers in mind.

Both approaches – hiring outside help and managing the site in-house – can be far more successful in the right circumstances. For instance, Central Heights Church in Abbotsford manages their website in-house, but they have Jon Paul Vooys on staff, a skilled graphic designer who understands website design.

While most churches can’t afford such an arrangement, there are other options. “There are many professional designers to choose from,” says Vooys. He suggests a church look for a designer who can provide a well-built site that can be directly updated by office staff – especially for constantly changing areas like an events calendar.

Another key, Vooys says, is convincing ministry leaders that their part of the website is important. “If ministries are able to keep [their section] up-to-date it becomes a valuable tool for the church.”

The right content

Before building a website, it is important to know who it is intended to reach. Is the main purpose to encourage local website visitors to visit the church in person, or to provide information to those who already attend? Should the site focus on being evangelistic for visitors who are further away? What about including resources to help Christian visitors grow in their walk with God?

For small and mid-size churches, it can be tempting to aim for all audiences like the larger church sites without matching the larger investment. The result, to borrow a phrase from Tolkien, can be like butter spread over too much bread. Before attempting to do everything, the website team should consider which goals they have the time, money and enthusiasm to reach.

There are many good examples of mid-size sites within our denomination. The website for Portage Avenue MB Church doesn’t have a lot of pages, but each one is bright and friendly; together they cover the bases for a someone looking for a Winnipeg-area church. Ross Road Community Church in Abbotsford provides access to a wealth of information by integrating links to other sites within their own content.

River West Christian Church in Edmonton spices up its site with lively photos from the church – a refreshing change from the stock photography many sites use. Coast Hills Community Church in Cloverdale, B.C. presents a professional yet friendly image that challenges preconceptions of what church (and a church website) looks like.

It is certainly true that God can use even the most modest or ill-conceived website for His glory. That is no excuse to purposely offer Him less to work with. By assembling a gifted team and exercising shrewd planning, a church can be an effective steward of its resources while branching out into a new ministry.

Links mentioned

• Central Heights Church – Abbotsford, B.C.
• Portage Avenue MB Church – Winnipeg, Man.
• Ross Road Community Church – Abbotsford, B.C.
• River West Christian Church – Edmonton, Alta.
• Coast Hills Community Church – Cloverdale, B.C.

Marshall Janzen is webmaster for the Canadian MB Conference. He lives in Regina and attends Parliament Community Church.