I’m working with a great bunch of leaders Uniting College for Leadership and Theology in Adelaide this week, with the final two days of a 6-day intensive on media and communication, at Uniting College of Theology and Leadership. The first two intensives were run by Paul Teusner and Steven Garner. This workshop has been focused on hands-on engagement in advertising and marketing, multimedia/multisensory worship settings, church websites and social networking. This morning we’re looking online engagement, drawing inspiration from Paul’s connection with the Areopagus in Mars Hill, Athens. We looked for inspiration on marshill.com and marshill.org, along with a few local sites. Here’s our reflections on really useful church websites.

Helpful Features

• Physical address – preferably with a Google Maps embedded feature, and instructions on getting to events.
• Name of the location – spelling out the name of the region, city, state, and even the country. Visitors may come from anywhere in the world. It helps with Google searches as well.
• Videos – connecting with a real person or group. Real life stories help people get a feel for what the church, leadership and members are about.
• A place for newcomers with a user-friendly introduction, and quick links to basic information.
• Name the Christian connection. We’re assuming that not all readers understand what “church” stands for. What does it mean for this community to put the gospel of Christ into action?
• Links to other sites – better to be connecting people to others than to be a dead end.
• Naming values, vision – using memorable and repeatable phrases, along with extended sections where the thinking is spelled out more.
• Photographs of real people and events. Keep them current, and big enough to see faces.
• Personal stories and reflections – including how faith is lived out.
• Easy access to leadership and their written, audio and video material.

What’s Not So Helpful

• Static, uncared for feel, out of date. Redirect old sites automatically to updated ones where necessary.
• Sole-Ego-driven focus for the site – puts most Australians off.
• Too much information on one page
• Too little information
• Disjointed stories – photos with little information
• Lists of events and people that miss words and images that inspire and motivate.
• Reliance on stock photography
• Over focus on history, buildings and past clergy