In this article, I wrote about the importance of developing and communicating a plan for creating, editing, and publishing your content. In this post, I present a possible policy document for you to copy and adapt to your purposes. Please keep in mind that this is not a cookie-cutter document that you should use "as-is," but a starting place for you to create your own.

Our church website is one means of communicating with the congregation and with those who might be interested in attending one of our ministry events. All official church activities should be promoted on our church website, either through a simple calendar entry or a paragraph providing more details about the event.

In order to ensure accurate and professional communication, all website content at East Timbuctu Baptist Church is approved and edited by the church secretary. When you submit an event for the church calendar or bulletin, please indicate if you would also like that material included on our website.

Ministry leaders are responsible for creating the content that should be on their respective pages within their site. To update the content, please print a copy of the current page, make any necessary edits in red pen, and deliver to the secretary.

News reports and photos of past events may also be included upon request. Please speak with the secretary about the nature of your event, and whether a news report would be appropriate. Please note that photos of minors may be included only with parental permission, and that names will not be included with any photos.

Upon approval, the secretary will forward the material to the webmaster for publication. Please note that it may take up to one week for your content to be uploaded, so please plan accordingly. You should plan on promoting your event at least one month before the event takes place.

Obviously, you probably don't attend the East Timbuctu Baptist Church, and I imagine that your church will have a different set of policies and procedures. Would you be willing to share your document with us? Go ahead and post it as a comment to this post!

Grace and Peace,

PastorJon

Labels: plan, policy

posted by PastorJon @ 4:05 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

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

posted by PastorJon @ 3:58 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

There was a day when churches were the centers of their community. They were the social services, providing help for settlers who hadn't yet built their houses. They were the town meeting hall, where business was conducted. They provided space for education, weddings, family reunions, and more. When a group of people settled a new town, the church building was often one of the first to be built.

While this may still be true in some parts of the world, I find that many churches are no longer considered an integral part of the town around them. Residents of the town use the public schools for education, the town hall for town meetings, and the local Elks Club for their family reunion. Government agencies and other non-profits have taken over the task of social services, and non-Christians have fewer reasons to walk through the doors of your church.

The greater problem of churches being essential and relevant to their community is one that each church must consider...and it's also outside the scope of this blog! However, I'd like to brainstorm some ideas about how we can make our church websites be an integral source of information to our community.

Search Engine - In order for this to work, you've got to take the time to properly optimize your site for search engines. Your goal is make your site visible, not just when someone searches for the name of your church, but when they search for your town, county, or even your state. The more traffic you can attract to your site, the better opportunities you'll have to become indispensible to your community.

Content - Are you providing content that is useful to your town? How about people who are interested in moving to your town, or coming there on vacation? Can you provide a section of pages with information about schools, real estate, community events, and tourist attractions? What about a calendar of events, or a place to list important updates? When you provide this sort of information, your site becomes a destination that contains indispensible information.

Questions and Answers - What would happen if churches moved beyond simply putting a "statement of faith" on their website, and answered the questions that people are asking about life? (Not to say that they don't care about our statement of faith...but I think that most non-Christians care more about whether or not God is real--and if He cares about them, then they care about our understanding of justification or sanctification). What if your pastor began a Question and Answer section? You could solicit questions from members of your congregation, and post them (along with answers) on your website. Once you got this started, you could also accept questions from visitors to your site.

Testimonies - One of the most powerful witnessing tools available to us is our own story of how God has worked in our lives. Wouldn't it be great if you had short testimonies of God's grace included on your website? Members of your congregation could write brief stories of what God has done for them, providing real-life stories of God's goodness.

Pastor's Blog - I'll be expanding this thought in a blog entry of its own, but I wanted to mention it here as well. I think one of the best things you can do for your church website is to help your pastor get started blogging. A blog provides a way to keep fresh and interesting content on your site, thus encouraging return visits. You might choose to offer devotional thoughts on your blog, or perhaps you will use your blog as an opportunity to talk about the needs in your community, or comment on news items. However you choose to use your blog, you will improve your sites exposure and visibility--increasing the pool of conversations.

How are ways that you've made your website indispensible to your community? What services can you provide that nobody else can? Feel free to post your thoughts below.

Grace and Peace,

Jonathan Twitchell
YourChurchWeb.net

Labels: design, plan, purpose, Search Engine Optimization

posted by PastorJon @ 9:19 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

"You are the salt of the earth...you are the light of the world." (Mt 5:13-14)

As we contemplate what this means to us as individuals and as churches, we also need to consider what it means to us as web developers. As I understand this passage of scripture, Jesus reminds us that we are salt and light, and as such we are to be salty and illuminating. We are to season our world, and shine God's light to those around us. The bottom line is: our world should be brighter and more flavorful because of our presence in it.

This is one of the fundamental reasons why I believe every church needs to have an internet ministry. We are to flavor the web with God's love. We are to provide beacons of hope to millions of surfers who have no hope. We are to offer light to those in the darkness, and direction to those who are lost.

In this article, I'd like to consider a number of items that should inform the way in which we fulfill our call to be the salt and light of the world, even on the web.

Quality - I realize that not every church has access to a professional web developer. Most churches will be fortunate to have a single volunteer who is willing to learn a simple design tool like Frontpage. And yet, we must still work at creating and maintainin our website to the very best of our ability. In our culture today, your website may be the very first impression that a new visitor has of your ministry. Do whatever you can to make a strong first impression.

Current - One of the hardest parts of web ministry is keeping your content fresh and current. Do your best to keep your calendar up-to-date (and if that's not possible--it's probably better to not include a calendar at all! :) ). Quickly remove out-of-date information and replace it with material that will be useful to the person who visits your website tomorrow. At the same time, feel free to include reports or photos of recent events or ministry opportunities.

Visibility - While I think it is valuable to use your website as a means of communication within your church, I believe you also have a responsibility to provide something to those outside your church. It is important that your site can be found. Make sure that your META tags are optimized, and that you've submitted to as many search engines as you can. Submit your URL to your denominational website, and local church directories. Ask your local newspaper to include your web address as part of their religion page or directory.

Content - How relevant is your website? Is your content fresh? Do you have something to offer that will connect with a non-Christian who is visiting your site for the first time? How does your church website reflect the makeup of your church? Do you advertise your children's our youth ministries? Are there photos of your church? Are those photos a legitimate reflection of the makeup of your congregation? Do you provide enough information so someone who has been to your website will feel comfortable on their first visit? Here are some ideas about content you can provide on your church website that may be relevant to those in your community:

• Parenting articles
• Financial information - Retirement planning
• Community news
• Sermon texts or audio files
• Listing of community events
• Church calendar of public events
• Descriptions of ministries
• Doctrinal statement
• About the pastor
• About a worship service
• Compelling testimonies from people in your church

I would encourage you to visit a number of church websites and evaluate the degree to which they are flavoring and illuminating the web. Find out what they are doing well. Send their webmaster an e-mail with questions.

Once you have spent some time learning from others, develop a plan for how you will be the salt of the earth, even on the Web. And if you have a great idea, feel free to post it here on this blog.

Grace and Peace,

Jonathan Twitchell
YourChurchWeb.net

Labels: design, plan, purpose

posted by PastorJon @ 9:51 PM 0 Comments Links to this post