The following article was published in our April, 2007 edition of
YCW eNews. You can subscribe (for free) to this valuable newsletter
here.
Who makes executive-level decisions about your website? Is it the pastor? The church secretary? A board chairperson? Or the webmaster? Or, do you have a team that is responsible for the final decision making process?
Whoever it is, there's someone who has been given authority to make decisions about what goes on the website and what doesn't. (Even if you don't have a policy that says so...it must be true--or else nothing would ever get done!) The executive (or team of executives) decides what will be written, what events will be promoted, and what photos are selected to go on the website. In some cases, the "webExec" is the same person as the webmaster--in other cases, the webmaster simply handles the design and technical work, and the webExec handles all content decision. For the purpose of this article, we'll simply be dealing with the responsibilities of the webExec, whether handled by the webmaster, another person, or a team of people.
How does your webExec decide what will go on the website? You might want to consider developing a written policy that explains how articles get on the website, and who decides what is published and what is not. For instance, you might publish official church gatherings on your website--but Sister Frances' birthday party might not get published. You might publish photos of a senior adult event, but require permission to publish photos of children or teenagers.
You might also want to consider the flow of information--does the webExec create content based on the church bulletin? Or are ministry directors responsible for writing their own promotional material and giving it the webExec? If they write the material, does the webExec have editorial power? Or do you just publish it as it's written--typos and all?!?
Have you communicated your plan (whatever it may be) to your leadership? If you don't tell them who's responsible for writing content, they might assume that you're responsible! If you don't tell them that Sister Frances' birthdy party isn't appropriate material for the website, they might not be happy when you don't include it. If you don't tell them that you reserve the right to edit their content, they might be surprised when it isn't exactly the way they wrote it.
I would suggest that you create a simple policy document that outlines the flow of information, the criteria for publication, and any other pertinent information. Once this document is approved, make sure that all of your ministry directors have a copy, so they know exactly how the information about their ministries makes it onto the internet.
I've created a sample document which you may adapt for your needs. You can view it
here.
Grace and Peace,
PastorJon
Labels: plan, policy, YCW eNews
