Communication is essential for any group of people working toward a common goal, and churches are no exception. That’s the eighth reason why your church should invest in a website: it contributes to better communication.
If your church can facilitate communication not just on Sunday morning, but throughout the week, it creates a broader sense of community.1 Technology makes midweek communication so much more immediate and effective through social media, texting, etc. However, your pastor, secretary or other church members can’t be available to communicate around-the-clock. People may want information quickly and at random, unusual times.
This is where a church website comes in. As Brady Shearer from Pro Church Tools puts it, “Sure, you and your staff cannot work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week … but your website can.”2
Here are a few ways that a website can contribute to better communication at your church:
The “bulletin board”
Your church website can function like a bulletin board, providing announcements and information on upcoming events. If you keep it regularly updated, encourage your church to also check it regularly. Doing this will help them stay informed – especially those who don’t get the memo because they weren’t there on Sunday morning.
The “sign-up sheet”
If you need people to sign up or register for something, your church website can be the place to do this. People won’t have to come to church in order to fill out the sign-up sheet. They won’t have to call or message someone to let them know. And, it’s available 24/7, so you won’t have to worry that someone didn’t get a chance to fill it out.
The “central hub”
Your church website can quickly become the first place to go for any kind of church information. You won’t have to say, “If you want to know about such-and-such, talk to so-and-so.” You can just say, “Check the website.” What about the new upcoming event? Nursery duty rotation schedule? Email sign-up? “Check the website.” Your church website can become a central hub of communication.
You may be thinking, “Our church has a Facebook page that we regularly use for all this communication. Isn’t that enough?” Well unfortunately, no. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are really useful, but they have certain limitations that a website does not:
- Limited space/word limits. This means you can’t share very detailed information. With a website, though, you can share as much detail as necessary with pictures, infographics, call-to-action links and much more.
- Visibility. Not all your church members may be on social media, and so they can’t always see what you have to say. Because of so much content, it may also be difficult to find previous posts. A church website, though, is visible to everyone and can be updated and edited as needed.
- Restrictions. I’m not going to go into detail with this, but social media platforms often restrict what you can post and what people will see. If you use social media, you’re at the mercy of any algorithm or policy those companies choose to make.3 On the other hand, your church website is 100% controlled by you.
I’m not saying that churches shouldn’t use Facebook and other social media. There is certainly a lot of value to them. But a website can do things that social media cannot do, and it can greatly improve midweek communication.
Just to summarize . . .
Communication is essential, and your church can communicate better through a website. Information is available 24/7 and visible to anyone, it’s permanent and can easily be updated, and you don’t have to worry about hidden algorithms and policies restricting it.
That’s all for today. If you have any thoughts or questions, please leave a comment.
Sources:
- Shearer, B. (2019, February 18). 7 reasons why a website is your church’s most important marketing tool. Retrieved from https://www.prochurchtools.com/7-reasons-website-churchs-important-marketing-tool/
- Stetzer, E. (2014, October 27). 3 ways technology enables the mission of the church. Retrieved from https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2014/october/3-ways-technology-enables-mission-of-church.html
- Shearer, 2019.
