In today’s digital era, church websites have become vital to a Church’s standing, presence and a part of your church ministry. Regardless of how you feel about social media and the internet, times have changed and without a website, you are missing out on a lot. A website can be considered your digital church.
Being digital, you have more chances of being seen by others and it is a much more efficient way to connect to the community. You can impact a younger generation and teach older ones how to use the internet.
Your church website is a vital church ministry that should not be overlooked by any means. But while you may come to understand this, it is important for your congregation to realize just how important a website can be to your church. So how do you go about changing people’s minds from seeing a website as an information dump to seeing it as a digital church?
Gather like-minded individuals
Before you can change the community’s mindset, you have to change your staff’s mindset. Get them involved in making content for the website such as blogs or videos on topics they are interested in. Train them on how to use the website and give them responsibilities. If a lay leader in the church is responsible for a ministry on the church website, then train them on how to use that part of the website.
By getting people invested in the website, you can create a team that understands it, and then those people can help spread the message to other people. It’s important to get your staff to genuinely enjoy using the website and making the content for it because if there is no genuine heart, no message can be truly conveyed.
Website should appeal to your audience
You should consider your community and audience when you make content for your website. You have to recognize their thoughts and feelings on topics and what they wish to see. After all, the website is made for them to have an easier time accessing your church. Not only should you have multiple languages and appropriate images, but it is also important to not alienate certain communities such as the youth or the elderly. Your website should be dedicated to all members of your church.
It is often said to consider Jesus as the model when it comes to dealing with outsiders and we need to do the same with our websites. Your website should represent the environment of your church to those who see it for the first time. Visitors can imagine themselves being a part of your congregation based on what they experience on your website so your website should be able to convey your mission and devotion to God.
Encourage Church Ministry Discipleship
Making your website visitor-friendly is the first step, the second is to lead members into a deeper relationship with Christ. By promoting Christian values and encouraging people to participate in events and activities, you can help make a deeper bond.
Encouraging discipleship can be done through so many different means on your website. Including features such as online giving, volunteer sign-up forms, event calendars, social media integration, reflective blog posts, member directories are great ways to empower discipleship.
Have faith
None of this is easy or something that can happen in an instant. Just like it takes time raising a church ministry, it takes time to develop and grow your website into a digital community that supports and learns from each other. You may not see immediate results and subconsciously start to under-prioritize your web church ministry due to its virtual nature, but doing so is a mistake. A website church ministry will open new doors and help you gain a larger following. God will always reward those that work hard with great effort.