Putting Your Church on the Web

This page is meant to provide basic information about deciding whether a web site is desirable for your congregation. Those who decide to move ahead with a web site will also find basic information for setting one up.

Some initial decisions

Why? Consider why you want a WWW site.

Here are some of the reasons to move ahead.

• Keeping members of the congregation informed, augmenting the quality of a congregation's community life, connecting in new ways with the regional and general manifestations of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

• Introducing the congregation to others in the community

• Providing an online ministry to youth, children, families with special concerns or persons with special needs. For example, providing a "kid-safe" zone on the web; support for foster parents, adult caregivers, etc.

• Introducing the congregation to people moving to your community.

Why not?

If your only answer to the question "Why should we have a web site?" is "Everyone else is doing it," forget a web site for now.

First steps

Talk about and decide the primary message you want to communicate to anyone visiting the site. If the message is "we're a friendly lot," photos of congregants in "friendly" situations would be in order. If your message is "we've got the most glorious sanctuary in town," pictures of the sanctuary would be the ticket.

Decide who your primary audience will be. If your primarily communicating with your congregation, consider that members are of different generations. Consider a special "corner" for children, teens, young adults, parents, and older adults. If your aim is to attract seekers of a particular generation, ask for advice from a member of that generation in determining the content and style of your site.

This is the point when you'll want to choose the person(s) who will design, post and maintain your web pages. This person will need to know how to create web pages. Some people manually combine HTML code with text and graphics to create pages. Others use software that "drops in" HTML expressions with a single mouse-click. Still others use "What you see is what you get" software that allows the composer to work in a "word-processor-like" screen environment. Such software automatically inserts HTML commands for carriage returns, paragraph breaks, creation of tables, and positioning of graphics and pictures. Strictly speaking, one needn't know HTML code to use software such as Microsoft FrontPage, Adobe Golive, and DreamWeaver.

These days, it's likely that someone in the congregation has some expertise in creating and posting pages. The other option is to hire someone in the community to design and maintain the web site. This "web master" will probably be a source of advice in choosing an Internet Service Provider.

Arrange a meeting with the webmaster to discuss the design of the site.

Remember that setting up a web site requires a commitment to offer fresh content to the site at least once a week (more often is preferable). A web site that doesn't change is doomed to be ignored.

Getting your site on the Web

You'll need an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to store your web pages and to make them available to World Wide Web visitors. If you already have access to the web, you can shop for ISP services online.

Another good place to start shopping for an ISP is in the Yellow Pages. Tell the ISP sales representative that you want to post a World Wide Web site. Ask for the price of an entry-level package of services. An ISP is likely to have a basic package, including a set amount of file storage for your web pages.

Some congregations choose to register a unique web address, called a "domain name." Details of this process can be found on the web at: http://www.networksolutions.com/

The website www.godaddy.com is a great place to start and their prices are competitive.