United Methodist Communications provides the following list of the “Top 10 Practices for Web Ministry“
- Develop a Web ministry team
- Know your target audience groups and develop ways to reach them
- Design seeker-specific experiences through your church’s Web presence, and enlist church members to meet seekers when the online experience leads to offline participation
- Use a consistent brand image for your church’s online and offline presence
- Employ the user-centered design process for your Web ministry
- Select Web and Internet technology tools and resources to meet your specific purposes and goals and reach target audience
- Keep all of your Web content up-to-date and relevant
- Adopt clear policies and terms of use, privacy, safety and copyright guidelines for your church’s online presence
- Promote and display your online presence in the offline world and your offline presence in the online world
- Keep up-to-date with technology trends, new tools, resources and training
So What?
The web is for everyone. Every church, regardless of size, should have a web presence. Every church with a web presence should have people dedicated to that presence and policies to guide them in their work. Consider your congregation’s current web ministry:
- Review each item on the list of top practices and give your church’s web presence either a grade of pass or fail (any item you have never addressed receives the grade of fail). How many items received a passing grade?
- I view many church websites on a regular basis and am surprised by how much out of date or conflicting information I find (see #7). Check your church’s website and look for any such data. What kind of first impression does this give? What processes are in place or can be established to ensure this is not a recurring issue?
- Branding is more critical than ever (see #4 and #9). If you have never taken the time to work on this issue, make it a priority for 2011. If you feel you are doing well, have an outsider or outside group provide an evaluation. For those without a budget for such analysis consider contacting a nearby church you already partner with or a neighboring parish within your denomination and arrange to have a small group from your church provide the same service for them in return for the service they provide your congregation.