Especially during Coronatide, the Church has to have an online presence. Here’s what needs to be there, and what you can do to stand out.
When looking for a new church, people don’t just look for the nearest church in their denomination anymore. They check out their website and social media. We are now fully immersed in the internet generations and churches need to learn to adapt to this reality — especially as covid pushes more and more church services online.
The home page is basically your instant public relations page to the internet. It should be a taste of what you’re about, enticing the seeker in to learn more. But, that doesn’t mean you can skimp on substance. Your home page needs to be more than just a static page with service times that hasn’t been updated since 2003 (yes, they exist). Outlined below are the most important things to have on your website, and a few things you can add to stand out from the rest and give your visitors a full experience.
Large Banner Photo
Images are extremely important — especially when you’re first encountering a church. Images have a way of making us immediately know whether this is going to be a fit or flop. This is a truly great way to stand out. Does your church have beautiful architecture that you love to point out to passerby? Is your church really diverse with everyone from young kids to their great grandmas on Sundays? Showcase what you want your visitors to know the moment they land on your homepage. If you want to be really fancy, make it a video like Christ Church Tulsa.
Headline
Succinctly tell who you are and what you’re about in five to seven words. I know it’s hard to condense your entire ethos into a few words, but think about a few simple phrases that will have great impact upon your visitors. Take a look at The Village Church.
Service Times
We need to know when and where you’re meeting if we’re ever going to be able to come and see you. Service times should be prominently displayed and explain whether they’re in person in the church, socially distanced outside, or solely online.
Mission Statement
What are you about? What are the most important things for a visitor to know about your church? In a short three to five sentence paragraph, try to tell me who you are and why I should want to do this whole Jesus thing with you. This is especially where you mention things that set you apart: egalitarian, Holy Communion-centric, biblical literalist, open and affirming, etc. What are the most important facets of your life in church together? That goes here.
Connections
People want to connect. Sure, they want to worship God, but at the heart of it, they really want to connect with others, or else they would pray on the way to having brunch every Sunday. What types of connections can you offer visitors? Do you have a children’s ministry that is thriving? Do you have community groups where they can get connected right away? Do you have mens and women’s ministries? How can someone new find out about all the amazing people in your church and how they can become a part of it.
King’s Cross London does this extremely well. Notice how not only do they have eye catching visuals, but they have the titles of their pages easily seen. Not only do they list their Sunday services, but they show how you can connect with others, serve the city, and they round it out with another way to worship.
Photo of the Pastor and Welcome Statement
This is slightly controversial among mainline churches, but people actually want to see who is leading the church. They want to know who to expect to see in sermon videos, and who to look for before services if they decide to show up in person. It condenses this large, amorphous entity (the Church) down to one friendly face. And next to this friendly face should be a heartfelt welcome to them for visiting and inviting them to connect with you further.
Call to Action
What do you want people to do after they visit your homepage? Do you want them to get connected and reach out to the priest or communications team? Do you want them to view a sermon to see if they like your preaching style? Do you want them to find a small group to get connected with? Think about what is most important for visitors to do next. The worst thing that can happen is for a visitor to get to the end of the homepage and be super excited to join in, but sit there thinking, “What’s next?” And have no real answer. This should ideally be at the bottom of the page, and possible one other place on the homepage. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for a visitor to engage.
Email Signup
You’d be surprised at how few church websites have the ability to sign up for the newsletter. Even fewer take full advantage of email marketing. Email has quickly replaced physical mail as the source of communication in the Western World and it’s time churches caught up. 90.3% of people in the United States have an email address. Gone are the days where we had to worry that someone wouldn’t get the information because they don’t have one. Today everyone has an email, and being able to show up in their inbox every week — even if it’s just the bulletin inserts — allows you to have a further connection point with your visitors and congregation.
Giving
I feel like a broken record, but if there’s something you want people to do on your website, make it incredibly easy for them to do it. As much as we try to shy awake from money talk, someone has to keep the lights on. Ideally you would have a large, easily identifiable link to giving — or even better, a way for them not to have to leave the homepage.
Saint Mark’s Houston makes giving effortless and a seamless part of their homepage. Their 2021 Stewardship Campaign is specifically about stewardship during covid and how to help the community. They not only have an online pledge card, but also links to giving, as well as a clear ask and reasoning behind why giving is essential.
Address
Please, please, please, if you take nothing else from this hear this: post your physical address clearly and identifiably somewhere on your homepage. The easiest place is in the footer of your website. It will show up on every page, so no matter which page was shared with them, they’ll be able to easily look and say, “Oh hey! This church is right by me. I should go check them out on Sunday.” The worst thing that could happen is someone be super excited and have no idea of how to reach out and connect.
Social Media
At this point, social media is just as important as a website. At the very least churches should have a Facebook page that is updated semi-regularly (at least weekly) with announcements and sermon videos. It’s very easy to stream Facebook Live services to keep your page showing up on people’s feeds. It also gives current parishioners a way to share their experiences and what they like about your church with the click of a button. The goal is to make it as easy as possible to evangelize to their friends and family, and sharing a sermon they thought was particularly moving, an upcoming event, or a thought provoking article from the church can be enough to sow the seed.
Ways to stand out and think ahead:
An “Are You New Here?” Landing Page
Especially if you plan to do social media ad campaigns to attract new congregants or populartize your events, you’ll want to have a landing page (ie a page that is specifically for them) for visitors and newcomers. You should also link to this on your homepage for people who stumble across your church so they have a more curated experience, rather than sifting through information for people who are already members to find out whether this is the place for them.
Red Church in Australia puts theirs right next to the sermons link, allowing visitors to smoothly choose between learning more about the church itself and listening to the latest message.
Social Proof / Testimonials
Like it or not, we live in a consumerist time, and people, as consumers, like to follow the crowd. If they see other people who are just like them saying how wonderful the church is, they’re more likely to be able to identify with them and visualize themselves liking the church, as well. Vineyard Columbus did this beautifully with a slideshow of volunteers talking about not just why they chose Vineyard, but how their relationship with God has been strengthened in the Vineyard community.
Amplify your Outreach
Most people want to join a church for connection and to be a part of something bigger than themselves — whether that means connecting more with God or with people, they usually also want to be a part of something giving back to the community. If you are doing great outreach during Coronatide, make sure you mention it front and center so that people know that you’re the church that is supporting those in need.
Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City believes outreach is so important that their outreach section takes up nearly 20% of their homepage. Visitors are immediately aware that Redeemer is a church where if you want to do good, they have a ministry to fit your skills and desire to help.
If you want to view a few church websites killing it in the design market, check out:
- Christ Church Tulsa
- Breakaway Ministries in College Station, TX
- Grace Episcopal Church in Yukon, OK
- The Falls Church in Falls Church, VA
- Kings Cross Church in London, UK
- Red Church in Melbourne, Australia
All of these churches approach the value in websites differently, and you can tell they have very different mission mindsets, but they have the basics needed for a visitor to decide whether this is the right spiritual home for them.
Questions? Comment below and I’ll follow up in another article soon.
