Internet Ministry for a Church

Community members often do not know anything about what a church is doing and the activities it is sponsoring. If a community member does not know a person that attends the church, the community member often has no opportunity to know what a church is doing and how he can participate in the church's activities. A web site can open the doors and windows of the church to a community member in the privacy of his home. The web site can get into his home and tell him about the church and its activities.

A church's web site can get into a community member's home by containing data that is of interest to people in the church's community. A well-designed web site that uses photographs of activities can become the church's "glass wall" through which the community can watch what is happening. If the visitor likes what he sees and learns about the church, his interest in visiting the church will be increased.

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The design of a church's IM and web site should be very important to the church's pastor. Why?

The IM and the church's web site is an extension of the church.

Through the web site, a mental image of the church will be formed in the minds of the people that visit the web site.

A well-designed IM can cause people to visit the web site that do not attend the church.

The web site is a medium for educating people.

The web site is a marketing tool for the church.

The pastor should be very involved in the planning of the IM and how the web site will execute the IM. Due to the time requirements placed on the pastor, the pastor does not have the time to be involved in the actual development of the web site's pages. The pastor does need to review the web site's pages to make sure the IM is being executed through the web site.

It is no secret that the pastor will be held accountable for the web site by church members that do not agree with having an IM. The amount of money being spent on the IM and web site will determine how much the people not in agreement with the web site will complain about the web site.

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The church's IM mission statement gives direction to what is to be accomplished through the IM. From the mission statement, goals will be determined that will guide the decisions that are made concerning the design and content of the web site's pages.

The mission statement will be general by design and the goals will be specific. The mission statement and goals identify the who, what, when, where, why, and how concerning the development of the web site.

The content of the web site's pages is designed to achieve the goals of the IM of the church. The content of pages in the web site should be designed as if the pages are marketing instruments that are used to advertise the church, its ministries, what the church represents, and what the church has to offer the visitor to the web site.

Developing a web site is a challenge, but it can be a very exciting challenge. The content of the pages in the web site should be determined by the targeted audiences and the goals established for the IM. Make the goals measurable so it will be easy to determine what has to be done to accomplish the results and to evaluate the effectiveness of the web site.

Realistically, an IM will be developed in stages. It may take one to two years to develop a web site that is very active and has church members and community members as target groups.

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Why will a person visit the church's web site? The answer to this question will vary according to the people the developers of the web site want to visit the web site.

Design can get complicated. What is of interest to an adult may not be of interest to a teenager and a child. What will get a church member to visit the web site can be different than what will get a community member that does not attend a church to visit the web site. At the same time, there are common things that will get church members and community members to visit the web site.

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Few churches make a serious attempt to market themselves to their communities. It takes time, effort, and money to develop and conduct a serious marketing program. For an IM to be effective, it needs to be approached as if it is a marketing tool for the church. The church's community has to know about the web site before the community members will visit the web site.

People will not visit the church's web site without knowing the address of the web site. The best approach is to invest the time and effort to put the web site's address in front of the church's members and community's members. The web site address should be placed on every piece of paper that the church and its organizations produce and distribute and by using ads in community newspapers, church signs, hand bills, etc.

The content included in the site's pages can cause people to visit the site. People in the community must know about the church's web site and the data that is included in the site's pages. If the site includes game scores and league standings for a local youth soccer league, make sure each coach and team member knows where they can find out the scores of games and team standings in the league. This content will attract people each week during the sport's season. In the pages, that contain the league data, promote activities of the church.

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A church's web site can be viewed by any person in the world that has access to an internet account. A realistic audience for a church's web site is the members of the church's community. The church has to give the people that live in its community a reason to visit the web site. A well-designed web site will have the web site's pages designed so a visitor to the web site will see information about the church as he accesses the data that caused him to visit the web site.

Potential visitors to an IM web site are:

Church members.

Church members' extended families.

Former church members.

Church members attending college.

Military personnel that belong to the church.

Community members.

Former community members.

When a web page is moved to the web site's host server, the content of the page is considered to be published just as if it is a printed book. The page is accessible by the public through the internet. All copyright laws apply to the content of each page in the web site. Care has to be taken to acknowledge the ownership of content of a page such as photograph, text, etc. Material should not be used without the owner's permission. This includes reference to Bible scripture. All versions of the Bible are copyrighted except for the King James Version which is in public domain.

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There are many types of data that can be included in a web site. The content of a church's web site will depend on the IM goals for the web site. The web site designed for your church should be unique to the IM goals established for your church's web site.

It is a good idea to visit web sites of other churches to gain an understanding of how they use their web sites. Other churches' web sites can be used as a guide to what can be done with a web site. Do not try to duplicate another church's web site, because the IM goals for the church's web site may not be the same as your church's IM goals.

BE CREATIVE as you consider the data that will be of value to people that visit the web site. Do not be overpowered by the potential things that can be included in a web site. Keep in mind that the development of a web site's content is easier when it is accomplished in phases.

The following lists are examples of data that can be included in an church's web site. Use the lists as a guide in deciding what to include in the web site. Consider the lists as a starting point for selecting data that will fulfill the IM goals for the web site.

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A1. Data about the church that is oriented to church members which includes the data included in the Sunday bulletin and church's newsletter.

A2. Data that is oriented to the education of the leaders/workers/volunteers in the church.

A3. Church documents (Constitution, by-laws, mission statement, organization structure, policies, procedures, etc.).

A8. Prayer requests (Caution is to be exercised because placing prayer requests on a web page is different from distributing the requests to the church's members. The prayer request page can be password protected to limit access to just church members.)

A10. Links to web sites that are of interest to church leaders and church members.

B2. Multiple web sites or different sections of the web site that are for different target groups of people.

B4. Promote organizations of the church such as day-care, preschool, church sponsored school, etc.

B5. Data about the church that is of interest to church members that do not live in the church's community and members that are home bound.

B6. Data about the church and the community that is of interest to extended church and community members such as retired people, military personnel, college students, members' extended families.

B7. Data that is oriented to specific age or interest groups of people in the church and in the community.

B8. Material that recognizes organizations, people, activities, etc. in the community.

B10. Focus on concentration of people near the church such as a nearby college, military base, ethnic group, large industrial or business complex, etc.

B12. Data about the public and private schools located in the church's community such as special events, sport teams, academic activities, academic awards, etc. Be sure to acknowledge activities and achievements of the teachers, volunteers, and members of the school administration.

B13. Data about local sports leagues such as scores of games, league standings, etc.

C3. Obtain data about visitors and use the data for targeting e-mails, banner messages (ads), etc. by using cookies and/or visitors submitting data about themselves to the church.

C4. Message board for people to post their opinions about topics of interest to the church members and community members.

C7. Audio material such as pastor's sermons, training material, promotional message, etc.

D7. Distribute promotional material for church activities to church members and community members.

It takes planning to effectively use a web site. Last minute planning will not work. To effectively use a web site requires leaders to plan two to three months ahead.

A church leader should use the following list to plan their activities as they work to use a web site to achieve the IM goals. If a leader has more than one elected position in the church, he will perform this list of activities for each position.

1. Identify several goals you believe God is leading you to achieve in the next three to five months.

3. For each goal, identify how the web site can be used to help achieve the goal.

4. Plan what will be included in a web page to achieve the goal such as text, photograph, etc.

5. Identify when the content will be placed on the web site and promoted from the home page. Establish a schedule when data is to be placed on the web site and removed.

6. Remove the material from the web site after the goal is completed. Some of the data associated with the goal can remain in the web site as historical data to give visitors to the web site a view of what happens at the church throughout the year.

7. After the time period for the goal has passed, evaluate how the web site was used and was the effort successful. Decide if the same approach should be taken in the future or how the approach should be changed in the future.

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The following are the Mission Statement and associated goals for three churches.

2. Inform people about the church's beliefs, activities, services, organizations, and ministries.

The Spring Creek Church's Internet Ministry will use its internet web site to:

1. Tell people how believing in God and Jesus Christ can enrich their lives.

2. Inform people about the church's beliefs, activities, services, and organizations.

2. Provide a description of each of the church's organizations and ministries.

5. Include links to web sites that will be of value to church leaders and church members.

The Big Rock Community Baptist Church's Internet Ministry will use its internet web site to:

1. Tell people how believing in God and Jesus Christ can change and enrich their lives.

2. Inform people about the church's beliefs, activities, services, ministries, and organizations.

6. Incorporate material that will be of interest to targeted groups of people in the community.

1. Include information about each of the church's organizations, ministries, worship services, and activities.

2. In a timely manner, add new web site pages and update existing web pages' content.

4. Use photographs to enable people to be able to experience church activity and services.

5. Include links to web sites that will be of value to church leaders, church members and community members.

6. Include data about the church community that will cause community members to visit the church's web site.

7. Include data that will be of interest to these targeted groups: children, youth, single adults, senior adults, and parents.

10. Include material that will help train church leaders to better perform their duties.

11. Include text of the pastor's Sunday morning sermon. An audio copy of each sermon will be available when feasible.

CHURCH INTERNET MINISTRY SECTION