When thinking about a new church website or updating your church website, we often talk about what we think 'should' be on a site, or what we want on the site. We rarely talk about what we expect to see from our church website. When I ask, "what is your expectation of your church website?" I mean, what are you expecting your website to do for your church? What purpose will it serve? What are your expectations for how it'll impact your church?

My friends know I'm into websites from my work at Church Pages and Khooseller - so I often end up getting told their experiences using church websites - or just websites in general. I have a "friend" who is seeking recently text me a screenshot of their Google search, "church groups near me". Google dutifully had pulled up a list of local church groups and he proceeded to sign up to one online and turned up. My "friend" recounted the surprise he was met by when asked "how did you find this group?" and he told them online. The church seemed to not expect anyone to actually sign up to their groups online. 

And I think we can all relate to this. Every church I have ever gone to has had a website, yet few seem to expect anyone (from outside the church) to come to their church through their website, let alone commit to attending a group. My friend's experience made me realise that our expectations of our church websites can tend to be pretty low. 

Why do we tend to have low expectations of our church website?

• Past experience: We just haven't had many people come to church through our website. People tend to come through friends, a personal invite or through family. 
• Never really thought about it! We have a website because we think we have to, not really because we think it'll make a difference. 
• Past disappointment: We have had high hopes for a website before and been disappointed by its impact. 

Is this okay...?

It may be okay to have a low expectation of our website however, I would suggest this isn't where Christ asks us to live. It seems the Lord wants us to hold in tension that He is in control and can use all means to bring people to Himself and we are to "find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some." (1 Corinthians 9:22). We are to have a high expectation of His power to move and use even our flawed actions to bring about His Kingdom.   

What could be the benefits of raising our expectations of our church website?

• We will see our website as an effective way of reaching our community with the Gospel
• We will pray more about the influence of our website
• We will expect to see fruit (and pray for this) 

What could you do to help meet the expectations of our church website?

• Decide what the purpose if of your website - is it just a substitute for your notice sheet or do you wish to use it for reaching your community?
• Read it like an outsider - how would a non-Christian feel about your website? We've a great blog on this here.
• Practice searching for your site locally online. Does it appear, can it be found easily if you put the search terms "Church in your area".
• Ask your community if they have seen your website.
• If you have marketing or communications experts in your congregation ask for feedback - both positive and negative.
• Take your disappointments to God (continually) and ask Him to guide you with respect to content and imagery on your website.

Can we help? 

We would love to support you in your online presence, so do not hesitate to get in touch with our team here.