It's been nearly 2 years since we launched the Church Pages Initiative and we're so grateful for all that the Lord has allowed us to be a part of. 

Through building many church websites, we've drawn up a list of the top 10 questions every church website should answer. 

Treat this like your summer website health checklist and let us know what you think! 

10 Questions Every Church Website Should Answer

1. What is your church & your vision?

Think of this question like orientation - this helps your website visitors know who you are, what you're about and to feel generally assured about your purpose and mission for your area. 

2. How do I find your church?

Sounds basic, however, it is amazing how many church websites hide the information about how to find their actual building. As an exercise, try counting the number of clicks that it takes to get from your homepage to pulling up a map of how to get to your church. It could be that you have your address, but is this clickable? You could have a 'find us' page, but this could be buried in a dropdown. 

By including a clickable map, which links to Google you can help people easily find your physical church building. 

3. When are your church meetings?

It probably goes without saying that times (correct times!), locations and all details about services/meetings should be easy to find. 

4. Who is in charge at your church?

This is all about trust and building connections with your community. By displaying the names, photos etc of your church leadership, this helps give people a feeling of being welcomed, into a trustworthy environment. 

5. If I have questions, how can I get in touch?

It's likely that newcomers or congregation alike will have questions from time to time and it's important your church contact details are easily found online. 

6. I'm new, what should I know about coming along for the first time? 

If you're unsure if your church website answers this question, try asking some non-church friends to go to your website and see if they can find this information. If your website isn't mobile-friendly, this'll immediately make things harder. 

You may even consider having a 'I'm New' page with information for newcomers on what to expect, where to go, where to park etc. 

7. I'm in the congregation, can I find out about the church events/calendar? 

Do you display your church calendar online? Or do you write up about events? Do you pull in your Instagram feed for recent news? However you display your upcoming events, make sure they are on your website. This will be one of the first places your church congregation and newcomers go for information on events, so ensure you have all the correct details up at least a few weeks before an event. 

8. How can I give to the church? 

You may be surprised to learn that churches that accept tithing online increase overall donations by 32%. (See the NP article here). So, you want to make sure your giving information is easily accessible. 

9. What is your church accessibility like/How do you cater for disabilities? 

I would imagine that if anyone with a disability (visible or not) came to your church, you would help ensure their experience was the very best it could be. You'd orientate them and ensure they felt welcomed and safe. This should be the same online - and it begins with ensuring your website is able to be used by those with disabilities. Here at Church Pages were use the WCA guidelines to help our website builds to ensure that touch points are accessible across devices. 

10. Who is the Safeguarding officer?

This was raised in a recent article, as we understand the importance of Safeguarding and ensuring people feel protected. You can read more about this here. 

Can we help? 

If you're unsure whether your church website answers the questions above, or would like help ensuring your church website does, then do not hesitate to get in touch with one of our friendly team who will be happy to help. Our church website templates help you cover all the bases you need to, and our bespoke designs can be tailored to include all the answers your community need.