Nathan Smith, a web designer who specializes in developing websites for churches and ministries, wrote an article recently entitled Setting Boundaries on Burnout. The article, which appears on the To-Done website (a website devoted to offering tips for personal productivity), speaks primarily to the issues of how a freelance web designer should manage his/her time and workload.

While the article as a whole interested me (probably because I currently find myself with too many projects in progress!), at one point Nathan wrote about the importance of substantial content on church websites:

If you create a beautiful, yet empty website, that sends a terrible message to the end-user. In the case of a church or ministry, which make up the majority demographic of my clients, by having an empty website they are saying: �Our church is about keeping up appearances, but we have nothing substantial to say.�

Along these lines, I would encourage churches who are considering launching (or relaunching) a website to begin with content rather than design.

In doing some work on another website I manage, I recently learned about the website of a new church plant in Palo Alto, California — PathwayPaloAlto.com. When I visited the website, I found a site which reflects a refreshing philosophy of targeting unbelievers rather than existing members of the church.

That philosophy is demonstrated by several facets of the site:

• The primary content of the front page of the site suggests that true fulfillment lies in being connected to God and connected to others, a message which seems to be targeted at unbelievers.
• The sidebars on the site include a number of intriguing quotations which will hopefully raise probing questions in the hearts of those who have not yet committed their lives to Christ.
• The site gives visitors the opportunity to sign up to receive (via email) a series of six articles on “The Power of Connecting with Others,” which are presumably designed to encourage readers to enter into friendships with those who are already part of this congregation.
• The website does not use a lot of religious language.
• The contact page lists the pastor’s cell phone number but not a land line! Amazing. What that says to people who aren’t part of the church is, “We’re available to meet you and help you anywhere, anytime.” Refreshing.
• The church is using a blog to memorialize the messages which are shared at their gatherings.

The church planter, Scott Aughtmon (who actually calls himself a “church gatherer” - another refreshing perspective), appears to have just started another blog to record his thoughts and experiences during the church planting (gathering) process.

All in all, a very refreshing church presence on the web!

Tips from the Internet Evangelism Day website on turning your church website into an evangelistic tool:

Church Growth

My family recently went on an 8-day vacation to Disneyland (surprising our 10-year-old daughter who had never been to Disneyland and had been such a trooper during my wife’s grandmother’s illness over 2-3 years). We also returned to our home and immediately turned it into a place of disarray as we have started to install new laminate flooring, paint the walls, get ready for new furniture, etc., etc. That explains why I haven’t posted for a couple of weeks - I had great intentions during our vacation, but it just didn’t work out. So please accept my apologies for the lack of activity here over the past two weeks.

In the meantime, there’s a great conversation which has been going on over the past couple of days at the website of Tim Challies regarding using church websites to reach unbelievers. You can read the article and the subsequent conversation here. 

Emmanuel Episcopal Church launched a new website this year, using a blog format based on the TypePad system. By using TypePad categories creatively, the church was able to provide some of the traditional information found on church websites (staff members, driving directions, etc.), but the heart of the website is the constantly-updated blog. Posts are set to accept comments so hopefully, this will allow for the authentic voice of the community at Emmanuel Episcopal to be heard over time.

I remember teaching a seminar a number of years ago on church websites. Before the first session began, I wrote a few scripture references on the black board. As people sat down, I remember one pastor good-naturedly snickering to another pastor sitting next to him, “I wonder what the Bible has to say about church websites.”

That memory remains vivid for me today, probably because I am convinced that the Bible has a lot to say to us about the strategy we employ (or don’t employ) to use Christian websites for kingdom purposes. It may not mention websites (okay - it doesn’t!), but biblical principles of evangelism, for example, are just as valid for outreach through websites as they are for one-on-one personal evangelism.

Tim Bednar at e-church has written an interesting article as a follow-up to the recent and furious discussions (furious in terms of the speed at which comments were added, not in terms of the attitude of the comments’ authors!) at boyink.com and Church Marketing Sucks about paying webmasters for church websites.

Tim’s take expands on the previous discussions because he ties in some recent stats about online charitable giving and challenges churches and ministries to think in terms of what a professional and strategic website could do for an organization in terms of fundraising.

It’s definitely worth the read. I first saw a reference to the article on Mike Boyink’s site.

Mike Boyink has written a very interesting article today entitled Church Webmasters - Stop Working For Free.

I’m going to leave a comment as soon as I can get my jumbled thoughts together. To be honest, Mike’s article has brought up some less than enjoyable memories and I’m trying to sift through my thoughts to see what might be legitimate and what might be the result of emotions.  I’m even a bit conflicted about writing that I’m conflicted.

But the article itself is very important, I think, both for church webmasters and for church staff members. So please read Mike’s article and if you are so inclined, leave him a comment with your reaction. I know he would appreciate the conversation.

Neil Cox at LovingChange.com has some great additions to the Tips For Effective Church Sites article at the Internet Evangelism Day website.

Click here to read Neil’s suggested additions.

I especially like his comments on church web strategy (which I would say is missing from 99% of the church websites I see) and local Christian portals.

Tigard Christian Church in Tigard, Oregon is another church which has taken a leap and allows comments on their website, which (once site visitors begin to use this new feature) will lend an authentic voice to the church’s internet presence. Kudos to the folks at TCC for their forward-thinking approach!

Here’s an example of someone who was helped on their journey to Christ by an interactive forum on a church’s website:

The Internet and the Church: Today’s Technology Connects People to Church.

Obviously, there were other influences on Kelly’s life in addition to her visit to the church website (the postcard her family received, her friend Kristi, etc.), but the church’s website (and the forums which provide an authentic voice) played a part in convincing her and her family to risk meeting new people and new experiences by visiting a church service.

Have you heard of similar stories? Feel free to add them by clicking on the comments link below.

Tony Morgan has a good post on his blog entitled 10 Easy Ways to Keep Me from Visiting Your Church Because I Visited Your Website.

All of his points are important, and I would encourage you to go to his site and read the entire post.

I would, however, take slight issue with one of his points, entitled “Avoid telling me what’s going to happen at your church this weekend.”