Massachusetts Conference Edition

Return to main page
Read National Edition
Subscribe to printed version - free!
Read the UC News Spotlight E-Newsletter

Creating a Church Website

by Tiffany Vail, Associate for Communication & Technology

March/April 2005

Did you know that every day, more than 2 million people search the Internet seeking spiritual or religious information? That's 2,000,000 people. Every day. Chances are one or two of them will be from your church's neighborhood. The question is, will they find your congregation? And what impression will they get if they do?

Whether your church is just beginning to think about building a presence on the World Wide Web, or if you are looking to improve a website already online, the MACUCC online tutorial can help! It is designed to give you information on various aspects of developing a website, including thoughts on content, organization and design as well as technical information on web software and hosting options. At the end, you will find a bibliography with sources for additional information. You can follow the tutorial along in sequence, or skip around using the table of contents at the right of each page.

Before getting started on your own church's website, it is highly recommended that you take a tour of a number of other church sites. This gives you an opportunity to get a feel for what other churches include on their sites, what is effective and what is not and what would work for your congregation. (You can find links to Massachusetts Conference churches at www.macucc.org/churchdirectory/ and to other UCC churches at http://ucc.org/find/index.html.)

Another tip before getting started is to decide who your audience is. Who are you trying to reach with this site? For most churches, the answer will be that you are trying to reach people who may be interested in attending worship so that they can be introduced to the transformative, healing power of God through Christ. More and more people use the Web today to do research on everything from vacations to gardening products to colleges. It is no different with churches. Chances are good that if someone is looking for a church in your community, they will turn to the Web.

Prospective visitors, however, do not have to be your only audience. Much of what you put online may also be of interest to current members - things like newsletters, prayer concerns, sermons, or online Bible studies. Such items are also an opportunity for members who have moved or are away for the season to stay in touch with the church.

Another potential audience is people in the community who may be interested in holding weddings at the church, renting the church hall, attending AA meetings or going to the church fair.

Who you can reach with your site is limited only by the time commitment people in your church are willing to put into the project.

For more information on website creation, including content, organization, and hosting, visit http://www.macucc.org/communication/websites/.