There are no reasons to believe that you do not need a church website in this digital age. It is similar to telling you that you don’t need to stream your service online when the pandemic is severe and churches are locked down.
A church website is essential in this digital age.
We are in a digital age; businesses, companies, and schools are going digital. We must adjust to the changes that this season brings. One of the numerous innovations that have accompanied this season is having a strong online presence.
You may say,
- My church has a Facebook page
- My church has an Instagram platform
- My church is doing fine on social media, so why do we need a website?
I will answer this question in this article.
A website is different from social media. Facebook is a website, but it is a website for social communities. A website is Facebook or any other social media platform that can be accessed through a browser.
As I rightly say, the world is going digital. This is evident in the new digital innovations we experience every day. Change is inevitable.
What do you need to get a website online?
A domain name for your Church website
A domain is an address or URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that people use to access a website. It typically consists of two parts: the domain name and the top-level domain (TLD).
For example, in the domain “www.xephas.com”, “xephas” is the domain name, and “com” is the TLD. Users can purchase domain names from domain registrars, which are companies that specialize in registering and managing domain names.
Once a domain name is registered, it can be used as the address for a website, email server, or other online services.
You can read extensively about the domain name in our article Ultimate Guide: Choosing a Domain Name for your Church or Ministry Website
A web hosting to host your Church website files
Web hosting is a service that allows individuals and organizations to make their websites accessible on the internet. It involves storing the files that make up a website on a server and providing internet connectivity so that people can access the site from anywhere in the world.
When someone types in a website’s domain name into a browser, the browser sends a request to the server where the website is hosted. The server then sends the files that make up the website back to the browser, which then displays the site to the user.
There are different types of web hosting services, such as
- Shared Hosting: It is the most basic and economical option for a Church website, where a website shares a server with other sites.
- VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting: It provides more resources and control than shared hosting. Suitable for churches with larger files
- Dedicated Hosting: As the name implies, it provides a dedicated server for your Church website
Web hosting providers offer various plans that come with different features and pricing options. Additionally, web hosting companies typically provide tools and support to help users manage their websites, such as website builders, cPanel, and other easy-to-use interfaces.
To learn more about choosing the right web hosting for your church website, read my article Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Web Hosting for your Church
A strategy
A website strategy for a church or ministry is a plan that outlines the goals, objectives, and tactics for using the church’s website to achieve its mission and vision given by God. A church website strategy should align with the mandate of the church and should be used to communicate the church’s message, engage its congregation and the wider community, and support its operations and activities.
Website contents
Your website contents are essential in creating and managing a website for your church. Contents such as sermon videos, sermon notes, choir presentations, and many more
So why does a church need a website?
- The hybrid church is the future of ministry
- Your website is your digital entry
- People are searching for Jesus online
- For digital evangelism
- Sustaining a relationship with members
- It is a warehouse for your spiritual content
- You have full control
- It is cost-effective
- Credibility
- For receiving donations
The hybrid church is the future of ministry
People don’t want to hear this, but I will repeat it. The hybrid church (both physical and digital) is the ministry’s future.
Technology is advancing, innovations are coming, and some are here already. All walks of sundry dominate the digital world. Smartphones are getting more sophisticated. All these indicate that in 5 to 10 years, we will welcome a world where everything you do will be on your device. That is the hard truth. Its accuracy does not depend on our beliefs.
It would not be shutting down churches and holding services online, NO! It will synchronize both the physical gathering and the digital presence to get the best results in reaching people for Christ.
Therefore, the church must be ready to be digitally inclined. Getting a website is one of the ways to maximize the opportunity we have now and be prepared for what the future holds.
Your website should be your digital entry.
Anyone should visit your website and find solace, just as they would in a physical building. Your church website also represents your architectural building in the digital space.
A church building can be closed for certain hours, but not a website. A website is always available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It would be a digital entry point for those looking for you.
When people want to find you online, visiting your website is the first thing they think about. They assume your social media platforms cannot give them the accurate information they need.
One reason you should have a church website is that new members want to find you online, and your website is the central place they can go.
Because people are searching for Jesus online
Christian Today’s article, “Coronavirus Searches Lead Millions to Hear About Jesus,” noted that “three of the largest online evangelism ministries—GMO, BGEA, and Cru—account cumulatively for at least 200 million gospel presentations on the internet each year.” All three say the number of people seeking online information about knowing Jesus has increased since the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic in early March.
The coronavirus has opened us to different opportunities for sharing the Gospel. It has made people search for Jesus more on the Internet.
When you have a website and create a blog section, it will educate people about Jesus and answer many questions about Jesus and Christianity.
Google records a billion searches daily, and people search for devotionals, messages, answers to faith-based questions, apologetic questions, and many more. A website will allow your church or ministry to answer these questions and meet people’s needs.
A Church Website is Useful for Digital Evangelism
A church website will be helpful for digital evangelism. It will be a tool through which people can come and learn about the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Digital evangelism, internet evangelism, or online evangelism is the showing and telling of the gospel (the birth, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ) in the digital world.
Websites like TalkToJesus and PeaceWithGod are examples of landing pages you can create on your website for digital evangelism.
When people visit your website’s blog and evangelism section and learn more about Jesus and getting saved, you get their details and reach out to them to connect them to your latest branch in their area.
Sustaining a relationship with members
Regular church meetings occur three times a week, except for special programs.
Having a church website can create a sustainable relationship with your church members.
You can have the following updates on your websites
- Daily or Weekly Devotional
- Pastor’s Column
- Women’s bulletin
- Youth Corner
- Happenings around the world and many more interactive posts to keep your members’ relationship with God and with the church smooth
Organize your existing content, your pastor’s sermons, and discipleship materials, turn them into digital content, and upload them on your website for your members to use in their relationship with God.
A warehouse for your spiritual contents
Warehouse? Yes!
You can post your content on a church website. Just as you can have your chairs, hymn book, bulletin, and many more in a physical building, you can also have your content online and uploaded on your website.
- Sermon video and audio
- Bulletins
- e-Magazines
- Pastor’s ebooks, and many more
All these resources can be uploaded to be downloaded for free by members and non-members, or you can put some of them up for sale via the shop section.
You have complete control.
It is your website. You get to design it to your taste, add whatever features, and make it look unique.
Anything you feel is needed for your online presence You can add a feature to your website.
You can use it to collect emails of people who are visiting and are not members and get in touch with them.
Unlike social media platforms, where you get to accept, adopt, and adapt to the available features, you have to design your website to suit your vision, mission, and mandate as a church.
It is Cost-effective
A website is less expensive to design and manage. A church can get a website for a small amount of money.
An essential website for a church in Nigeria can be within the range of #50,000 ($70) as at the time of writing this article
Suppose your church is not financially capable of hiring someone to design for you. In that case, we have Do-It-Yourself tutorials on our YouTube channel and our academy website to help you get one online within a day.
Also, if you want to hire an agency, we can reach out to us
Credibility
Get a website to give people the benefit of the doubt.
People look for churches to attend that are close to their homes. They can only find churches with websites or in an online directory such as Google My Business.
In an age where we have people who impersonate pastors and churches to dupe innocent people, getting a website is one way to curb impersonation.
Your website gives adequate information about your church, its location, pastors, services, activities, etc. This information provides credibility to new website users.
For receiving donations
I hardly see a church website without a donation page—a page for collecting tithes, offerings, and other willful donations.
With platforms like Flutterwave, PayStack, PayPal, Stripe, and many others, you can set up a donation platform on your website.
You need to visit the payment platform’s website, set up an account, submit relevant documents, and then connect it with your website using their API.
Getting a website for your church will help you build a formidable online presence and take the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to the digital world.
