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Why Build and Maintain a Church/Ministry Home Page
Question # 1 "Why build a web site? " Think long and hard on this question. Don't tell me because everyone else is ! My mother said that was no reason for me doing it ! This question goes to the heart of the problem. A focused purpose or mission MUST exist other than being another telephone yellow page commercial advertisement.
Many churches on the Internet have built a web site because they wanted to have a presence on the web. However, to sustain a really successful church website, you need a stronger reason for being on the Internet. If you are building a web site for your church strongly consider the following.
- Use your web site to introduce your church to the rest of the world, including your own community.
- Use your web site as a list of Internet resources for church members, staff, and visitors.
- Use your web site to publish church/ministry work including; presentations, artwork, singing, etc.
- Use your web site to store rich data collected locally on curriculum-related topics such as local church teaching, edifying the saints, and baptising, etc.
The above concepts were borrowed from "Why in the World Wide Web?" by Jamie McKenzie. Jan 1997, Technology and Learning, page 26.
Question # 2 "What is the purpose or mission of our web site? " What is the purpose of the church? Meeting every Sunday for singing, prayer, messages and edifying church members is part of the purpose. If the church is growing with new baptized members, then evangelism is the main purpose. If the church is not growing with new baptized members, then pastoral care is the main purpose. Foreign missions is an extension of local missions. If a church does not have strong community missions, it is hard to have strong foreign missions. Again, what is the purpose and mission of our church and our web site? They are the same.
Question # 3 "Who will maintain our web site?" The answer is a minimum of two and even more. Two web programmers should know the purpose of all web pages. If the web site has multiple purposes or missions, then at least one person needs to work on his/her mission with his/her e-mail address for those pages he/she/they maintain. Many church web sites start out as a noble cause, until the webmaster gets sick or moves away and then the web site goes dormant. E-mail responsibilites should be divided up by the missions of the church. Answering e-mail is not hard to learn.
Question # 4 "How often will our web site be updated?" As needed, but at least weekly in some areas. If the sick and shut-ins are registered on the Internet, then two or three times a week.
Question # 5 "How much time will it take to update our web site? " For volunteers, less than two hours a week. If the church has a full time paid employee then the web pages can take on many functions. Remember, keep the web site simple, because others may have to maintain it.
Listed below are some web sites attempting to answer some of these questions:
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