Web site for church

Hello Joekan,

I would say in this day and age a church website is very beneficial. First of all, it is another method of getting the Gospel out there. As well, all the church details such as beliefs, ministries, service times, location, directions, and a hundred other details can be made available.

For those looking for the truth or those looking for a church the web is more and more used as a tool.

A site can be very time consuming if you want to keep adding sermons, announcements etc.

But, it can be a once in a while job if you just make available the essentials and then let it run.

Take a look around some church sites and see what's already being done and what would suit you.

My easy upkeep site is this one: www.faithbaptist.co.uk
Also look at www.faithbaptist.org.uk - the pastor is a friend of mine. Both sites are very low maintanence.

My site I update regularly is www.thewickens.info

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks Joe, yep, my daughter has me completely under control! It is amazing the power a 2 year old can hold over you!

Ann mentioned Joomla, that is what I use for my personal site. It takes a little time to learn, but it is well worth the effort. Mine is probably not the best example of a Joomla site because I am still learning. But the potential with Joomla, I would say, is almost limitless.

My church site I designed also but it is simply through the website builder my site host provides. It is less flexible, but quicker and easier to learn.

I probably can't help as much as some of the other guys here, but I'd be happy to help where I can. When I've posted in the computer forum the guys have all been very helpful and very willing.

 

A web site is like the Yellow Pages in past decades, only better.

Before I attended my new church I perused their website, checking out the doctrinal statement/statement of faith for red flags.

I think that in this day-and-age where jobs and locations change so frequently, it's almost vital to have one.

Rob

 

As a SBC church, we were able to get our site through LifewayLink. We signed up when they were still free. You can check it out at www.newportbaptist.com. Being that it is hosted by Lifeway, it has it's limitations. Being that it is free, I don't mind the limitations.

I update it myself, and it only takes a few minutes a week. I try to keep enough information about our church there that someone can find out quite a bit about us from the site.

We average only about 100 hits a month right now, but that's growing. We have our site address on all our publications.

 

Welcome to the BB Joe!

You ask if it is beneficial to have a church website...YES IT IS!!! We have had a website for our church before we started holding services. As soon as my husband felt the calling of God to start the work, he registered the domain name and started building it.

We have had many people visit our church because of the website. It tells them everything about us before they even step on church property. We have online singing and preaching, our radio broadcast is uploaded weekly and we have tons of pictures to show all our activities. My husband updates it weekly just because he hates to see church websites that don't change or tell people what is going on there... (just a personal preference).

You can check ours out at www.familybaptistchurch.net

My husband also built the website for the Sword of the Lord when he was working there. I can't tell you how it was a benefit to there ministry to have a nice looking and functional website after having really bad ones in the past. www.swordofthelord.com

 

I think you can still get away without having a webpage for your church right now...but that is just right now. In the next year, two, three or more it may not be that way.
We have a site through forministry.com which gives free websites for churches and ministries that are pretty easy for the non-technical (like me). For about $30 you can get a domain name while setting up your site.
Ours is www.firstbaptistlewisville.org

 

Yes, definitely beneficial! Here's some ideas that you can do with a site:

• map and directions to church
• your beliefs for visitors
• directory and photo gallery for new members (make it private and give members login info)
• sermon MP3s
• sermon outlines
• daily devotions
• calendar with upcoming events
• post urgent prayer requests (you can also set up an email newsletter)
• post service times
• post information about childrens/teen ministries (awana, etc...)
• post testimonies
• include information about various ministries
• include information about missionaries you support (photos, contact information, scan and post prayer letters)
• list church staff with photos

I've heard many praises from Google Pages users who say it's very easy to use, ad-free, and has plenty of space. You might want to look into it. You might also want to look into the link in my signature, too . Either one may be useful, depending on your needs.

Good luck with your site!

 

Considering i paid only about $30 for a 2 year domain name for what i have set up for the church i serve...seems a little pricey to me.

 

It sounds very expensive to me. But, it all depends on your resources.

Our church uses www.1and1.com. At the moment they have some very good offers.

If you can spare some time you can use their website builder. I used that for our site - www.faithbaptist.co.uk

How much do you want to update it? Are you interested in hosting audio sermons? Just a sample or new ones each week?

For a basic site their Home or Beginner hosting plans would be fine.

I am not particularly able, but I am willing to help if you want help.

 

No problem. I look forward to seeing your new site some day.

 

You might want to check out this link:

http://www.ourchurch.com/

Especially if you have never designed a web page before....

 

They are certainly beneficial.

Here are a few links to churches I am involved with.

www.watershedcharlotte.com

www.chbcfamily.org

 

That may or may not be pricey. How nice is their stuff? Really high-end web design...that might be OK.

Mine is pricey to some...but it has unbelievable options. I do almost all signups for events online (we could even take payments online, but I ain't ready for that!)...plenty of other stuff, too.

A very pertinent question, especially for that price, is bandwidth restrictions. For your price, there should be very generous bandwidth allowances, or no restrictions at all. (in other words, how much can be viewed/downloaded before your allowance is used up and the site visitor gets an error message?)

 

I'd advise everyone to check out the original Christain Web Host, the GraceNet. This ministry is headed by the Nofals, who happen to be individuals I went to school with, and are personal friends. When they started this, I thought that it was a complete waste of time and energy to do something like this.

I was wrong, here, in spades.

They are very affordable, IMO, as well.

Here is the site:

http://www.gracenet.org/

Ed