Church Beauty

Church Beauty is a website I ran across yesterday which highlights well-designed church websites. From the site’s introduction:

My goal with this website is showcase and promote excellent church website design. After doing quite a bit of research I can honestly say that there is not an abundance of high quality, top notch church websites. However, with your help I want to promote the ones that do exist in hopes of inspiring more churches to reach farther and go the extra mile.

The first post is dated March 20, 2006, so the site has not been around too long, but they seem to have a good collection of attractive church websites highlighted. They are actively looking for recommendations for sites to highlight, so if you know of some great church websites, why not stop by and submit your recommendations?

Posted by on 04/09 at 07:43 PM

The Collective Voice!

Boyink continues the discussion:

Seems like I was contacted about this site a few months back...if not it was something just like it.

And...I can’t get excited about it—I think designers of church websites can get plenty of inspiration from commercial sites like stylegala and cssbeauty.

I think we spend too much time talking about what comes out in the browser window, most likely because it’s easy. I’d rather see effort being expended on issues and challenges peculiar to church websites.

Like the question I have sitting in my inbox right now - from a site developer asking for advice with a church client who thinks $200 is is too much for hosting, a domain name *AND* a website that he’s got over 30 hours into.

Sorry...just feeling a bit curmudgeaonish this AM....

contributed on 04/10 at 05:14 AM

continues the discussion:

Thanks Mike! This is not a curmudgeony-free zone, so feel free!

You know that strategy is my passion when it comes to church websites. When I posted this I was tempted to say something about the fact that appearance is not everything and that great appearance without strategy is largely ineffective. But I didn’t particularly want to start out with what could be perceived as having a negative tone.

In addition, I’m also coming to believe that ideally, we should have both great appearance and strategy as long as the appearance doesn’t detract from what we’re trying to accomplish.

While Church Beauty only addresses a small part of the equation when it comes to an effective church website, I do think appearance has some importance.

With regard to whether we get our inspiration from stylegala, cssbeauty, churchbeauty, greatchurchwebsites, or someplace else, someone like me (who is graphically-challenged) will take inspiration from anywhere I can get it!

But your point is important - if all we talk about is the appearance of church websites, we’ve missed the most vital issues.

contributed on 04/10 at 06:57 AM

Next entry: Good For Nothing Websites

Previous entry: One of the Most Interesting (and Perhaps Most Controversial) Christian Websites I Have Ever Seen

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You may be interested in reading these articles which enumerate core principles of the strategy we advocate:

Effective Church Websites For Emerging Generations
Investigating the various ways in which a church's website can be targeted toward unbelievers in a church's local community.

A Strategy For Local Internet Outreach
How can the internet be used for evangelism and outreach while maintaining an environment of authentic Christian community?

Flawed Follow Up Or A Flawed Philosophy of Evangelism?
The ease with which we can “share the gospel” online can actually short-circuit the God-ordained process by which unbelievers are brought to faith.

Should We Include A Gospel Presentation On Our Websites?
Should conversion be our immediate goal in our internet evangelism efforts?

A Strategic Opportunity For The Church
A proposed strategy in which a church would use short video profiles of members of their congregation to entice unbelievers in their local area to consider the value of a local congregation’s ministry in their own lives.

2 John 12
Is there something incomplete about digital communication?

Fri, September 05, 2008 at 08:48 pm
Frank : happy that I've figured out how to import articles from four blogs into Facebook Notes simultaneously

Thu, September 04, 2008 at 09:14 am
Frank : very happy to reconnect with an old friend on Facebook!

Tue, September 02, 2008 at 10:31 am
Frank : reading a great article from flyte.biz about how microblogging is the future of communications. http://ping.fm/IT0XL

Sat, August 30, 2008 at 06:54 am
Frank : looking forward to a weekend of watching my daughter play soccer.

Thu, August 28, 2008 at 03:32 pm
Frank : reviewing SEO recommendations from our partner.

When the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association wanted to use the internet to promote their city festivals, they turned to Strategic Digital Outreach. Read more ....

Quick Contact Info

T: 831.461.1183
F: 831.461.1184
AIM: strategicdigital
ICQ: strategicdigital
Yahoo: strategicdigital
MSN: strategicdigital@hotmail.com

Web Development
Designwise Studios
DirectSteps
RockBeatsPaper
SparrowStyle
Turtle Interactive

Content Management
Expression Engine

Web Hosting
DreamHost

Email Management
Constant Contact

We work with several different organizations in exploring ways in which digital means can be used to reach an increasingly digital world. Some of these organizations are more traditional clients. Some are friends. All are our partners in the gospel (1 Corinthians 3:9). Invariably, we learn as much from them as they do from us. Here is a sampling:

David & Linda Arzouni
Assemblies of God missionaries to West Africa, based in Mali (the land of Timbuktu).

Assemblies of God
The Northern California and Nevada District, based in Sacramento, California.

India Prayer Drive
A 21-day prayer drive through the nation of India.

IreneDias.com
Although the suffering they face is severe, this is not a story of despair, but of an incredible faith and even more of an incredible God who sustains His followers with lavish grace, extravagant kindness, and unrelenting love.

Luis Palau Evangelistic Association
Proclaiming the Lord's Good News to the millions of people who have yet to respond to the Gospel.

Sacred Ink
Joyfully declaring the gospel to the tattoo subculture.

Santa Cruz Bible Church
Their evangelism department focuses on marketplace ministries.

ShareFest Santa Cruz County
Churches in Santa Cruz County, California join together to become a bridge from the church to the community through work projects designed to bless the community.

TimeOut Conference
Enabling a deeper relationship with God and more effective relationships with people.

Wake Up! Santa Cruz
Presenting the claims of Christ to the business community in Santa Cruz, California.

These are projects which we have initiated (either individually or as members of a team) in our efforts to use digital means to spread the gospel:

MissionEquip
MissionEquip.com was established to provide resources to missionaries and short-term missions teams traveling worldwide.

ChristianCruz
ChristianCruz.com is a localized portal for believers living in Santa Cruz County, California.

Prodigal God
ProdigalGod.com, a work in progress, is designed to provide biblical instruction to the wider body of Christ through the use of video teaching segments and written articles.

Christian Screen Savers
ChristianScreenSavers.com offers a selection of high-quality, inexpensive Christian screen savers which reflect biblical themes. Proceeds from the sale of these screen savers are used to support the work of Strategic Digital Outreach.

Blogs I Read

Adventures Of A Web Evangelist
The Appian Way
BetaChurch.org
BlogMinistry
BlogRodent
Boyink Interactive
Carpe' Digital
Christian Web Trends
Church Beauty
Church Communications Pro
Church Marketing Sucks
ChurchTechToday
Church Website & Blog Ideas
digital.leadnet.org
Digital Ministry
The Digital Sanctuary
e-vangelism.com
Effective Church Web Sites
Effective Web Ministry Notes
Equip Blog
Evotional
GodBit
Goodmanson
Gospelcon
Heal Your Church Website
If Jesus Had A Website
Leave It Behind
MicroExplosion
Outside The Box Ministry
Sacred Digital
So You Want A Church Website?
The Ultimate Issue
Web Evangelism Issues

Church Beauty

Blogs I Read

More Blogs & Sites