Websites are the front door to your church.

When people move into a community and are looking for a church, they go to Google, not the YellowPages. Having a good web presence is detrimental to whether or not people will choose to come one of your services.

The experience you create online is just as important as the experience people have when they walk through your doors.

When I started on staff at Park, our original website was good but it wasn’t great…

We knew we needed a new site that would better communicate who we were and accurately reflected that we were a young, urban church.

We searched around for a company to help us redevelop our web presence and landed with Ekklesia360.

There were so many reasons why we chose to partner with them, the main reason being that they were constantly thinking of new ideas, designing new applications [like the Cobblestone Community Network], and seemed to be the ones thinking about how to create simple, yet effective web solutions.

In June of 2008 we launched a new website with Ekklesia360  [check out Park 1.0 here].

The new site was a hit. It was featured as one of the Top 90 Church Websites by ChurchRelevance.com, was featured on a few design blogs, and was even stolen by one church [that was a fun time].

But, change and adaptability are some keywords for us at Park … even more so since around the time we launched our new site we also killed our weekly bulletin.

Our website was no longer just an accessory, it was a necessity.

A year after launching our new site, we knew it was time to redesign, so we went back to the drawing board and launched Park 2.0 in October of 2009.

Our old site is a great website, but not for what we needed it to do for us… and we know that for some church out there it would be a perfect fit.

So, that’s why I am excited to let you know that in partnership with Monk Development/Ekklesia360, we’re going to give our old website away to a church plant.

If you are a church plant that needs to establish a solid web presence and don’t have the resources or finances to make it happen, this is an opportunity for you to get a solid web design and 1 year of support and hosting with the Ekklesia360 Content Management System.

To enter, simply leave a comment, sharing a bit about who you are, where your church is/will be, and the vision of your church.

We’ll be accepting entries now through Friday, February 26. Myself and Drew Goodmanson, the CEO of Monk Development/Ekklesia360 will pick the winner and announce them on my blog on Friday, March 5.

Not-so-Fine Print…

1. You get the site as-is. Monk Development will insert your logo at no charge. All images on the site can be changed with the CMS.

2. Don’t like the colors? Colors can be modified for a one-time fee of $500.

3. You’ll get one free year of hosting and a subscription to the Ekklesia360 CMS. You are responsible for normal rates after the first year (currently $50/month or $75/month if you’d like to integrate the Cobblestone Community Network).

4. Monk Development retains ownership of the design/code for the website.

5. This offer is for one church plant and is valid for 90 days.

Spread the word!

*UPDATE March 8* Winner will be announced soon!

Social Media Pulse

What are churches current social media patterns?

• We are living in a world people dreamed of.
• There used to only be a computer at work… then it went home… then to your lap… now to your hand.
• Mobile ubiquity, where everyone has a phone, presents challenges and opportunities for the church.
• There’s an embedded value system in social media [public/participatory, new media].
• There’s value in it that it’s instant.
• Everyone is an equal creator… it’s user-generated content.
• We’d rather buy something someone tells us about than what we are told by businesses or corporations.
• Users have a voice and are able to generate content.
• In a relationship economy, what people say matters deeply.
• We now have greater accessibility to information.
• Churches need to move from having “please have your phone off” signs to “please have your phone on” signs.
• The media is affecting our small group communities and the way that they interact.
• We’ve torn down the boundaries of distance; there’s now a worldwide conversation going on that anyone can participate in.
• The definition of “presence” is changing.
• We HAVE to think through these things theologically.
• Is physical presence necessary for you to be a part of and “be” the church.
• Social media allows customization [personalization].
• One size does not fit all … [MySpace, my reviews, my favorites, etc.]
• My can be consumer oriented, but it reflects the fact that media is in the hands of every person and every person has the ability to create media.
• Everyone is a content producer.
• We now watch TV on our own terms [TiVo].
• New generations are being raised with these new ideas embedded in their everyday interactions.
• As technology becomes cheaper and more effective, the Church is confronted with one of the greatest opportunities along with one of the greatest challenges of how to steward it.
• The Men of Issachar were able to see the times and were able to know what to do.
• Let’s go to the next level… let’s find out what we are capable of doing and how are we able to frame it in a Biblical context?
• The word of our testimony is the critical story we have that’s a powerful conduit [Christianity is viral] to reach someone we may have not been able to reach any other way.
• We’ve moved to a digital age.
• It will be normal for us to connect online, first and then meet in person.
• 43% of churches say social media is one of the most effective ways for them to communicate and engage with people.
• Church websites are the front doors to churches.
• 77% of people say the church website was an important part of why they chose to go to church.
• If people can’t connect to your website they may not go to your church.
• People make judgements about a church based on what the church communicates across their website.
• It’s a missiological issue.
• John 17:18
• Facebook is the 4th largest nation in the world if you look at the number of people that are on it.
• Non-Christians do not go to your website.
• Your website is primarily visited by believers looking for information about churches.
• 20% of all data people are accessing on church websites is information for new visitors… that’s a significant portion where you should invest your time.
• Use the web to help people new into the church to get deeper into community.
• Your web strategy should be looked at as an Internet Presence Management.
• What are you communicating online?
• How are you connecting to where people are talking and engaging?
• Where are you present? Where are you absent?
• Who is responsible for your church’s online presence?
• What does it mean to be the Church online?
• How do you define presence? What’s your theology of presence?
• We need to recognize that participatory media is decentralized.
• It’s unregulated.
• We have a lack of control.
• We have to look deeper at our theology.
• A mobile, extended presence can be used missionally.
• Is virtual community real community?
• What is Biblical community?
• We need to define Biblical community before we define online community and if it’s possible to have church online
• We need to ask if we can use an online presence to build real life community?
• We need to intently be on the internet, it’s a mission field.
• We, the Church, are called to be counter-culture… what does that mean at this technological crossroads?
• We are willing to be transparent online, but vulnerability is not often seen online.

Top Social Media Sites

1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. Private Member Portals [ MemberHub, Monk, Tangle, Unifyer, etc ]
4. GoogleGroups
5. MySpace

• Greatest needs online: events, post prayer requests, get connected, finding small groups and ways to connect throughout the week, integration with their church website and resource sharing.
• Churches are wrestling with how to use participatory technologies.
• The Cobblestone Community Network is a tool that’s been developed to help churches have private communication that’s integrated into social media channels.
• If you don’t set a strategy you’re going to have a difficult time pulling it together later.
• What is your strategy for the community online?
• Pick a horse.
• If you don’t lead your people, they will find their own way and go their own direction.
• This is something we need to pay attention to but we don’t need to know the mechanics of it; you can find volunteers or someone on staff to help manage this.
• Things are easier than they were before.
• There are challenges and effort required but it’s more centered on your strategy.
• Let people tell you how they want to be contacted… be platform neutral.
• Let people choose how the content gets to them.

• Drew has a passion to help churches use technology to do outreach, build community and advance the Gospel.
• 2,600 churches use Monk Development technology.

I’ll post Drew’s notes on this when I get them, they will be more accurate than mine!

Are church websites effective tools for outreach and evangelism?

• John 17:18… as you have sent them into the world so I have sent them into the world.
• Facebook is now the “5th largest nation in the world.”
• The world is online so we need to be.
• 64% of wired Americans have used the internet for spiritual or religious purposes. – Pew Research Study
• 0.17% (1 person) said they were not a Christian and influenced to go to the church as a result of visiting the church website.
• 60 million Americans say they use the Internet to make big decisions.
• 6% of churches have Gospel presentation on their websites.
• At present, church websites are ineffective tools of evangelism.
• One possible reason… if you’re not a Christian, you’re not going to go to a church website to learn about God.

How are people finding the church website?

• On average, 25% are on a search looking for it.
• 43% are direct.
• 30% are clicking on a referral.
• What does search hits mean? Non-Christians are finding your site.
• Direct traffic typically means its people in your church, who know.
• The search represents the content of your site and how well it’s laid out.
• The higher the direct traffic, the higher the community involvement
• Referral means your online presence elsewhere.

During usability studies, 88% of web users went to a search engine first to accomplish a task.

Traditional church marketing has its message and you hope it connects with the person’s situation… online searches allow us the opportunity to be a “just in time” church based on what people are searching for.

• Life change – reach people when they need the church the most. (depression, marriage, health, death, illness, transition).
• Think about your town and how you can optimize the life changes people face in your community.
• People stay on a page for about 45 seconds… what are you going to do with that time?
• What are you going to do with the traffic that comes to your web? (Wherever it comes from!)
• Church websites are an effective tool for reaching Christians.
• 16% of people say that the church website is the first time they heard about the church
• #1 area people went on websites for information for new people… how are you thinking for that population?
• Many churches are creating websites for internal purposes, but what are you doing to connect people on the outside.

There’s three populations of people who visit your church website: visitors, beginners (3-6 months), and regulars (6+ months).

• 30% of people who were new to the church said the website is where they learn about the church.
• 77% said the church website was very important in making the decision of whether they were going to visit your church or not.
• A church’s website is people’s first filter to find a church.
• Spend your homepage connecting with first-time visitors and new people to your church.

Triperspectival Design

• Normative
• Existential
• Situational

• What do you want to communicate about your vision?
• What behaviors do you want the visitors to imitate?
• 82% of beginners say the website was important in their participation in the church community.
• 45% said it was important for their spiritual growth.
• 73% said the website was helpful in their evangelism efforts.
• 76% of regulars said the web was still important in their involvement in their church community.
• 47% said it was an active part of their spiritual growth and discipleship.
• 52% of regulars said it was important in sharing their faith.
• 82% of regulars visit the church website at least once a week.

Web Development – Developing a Church Web Strategy

• Internet Presence Management – how and what is your presence online? We have to develop a strategy and lead our people that way, or people will be all over the place. Where are your people online? What are they using? Is all your info on Facebook? Google Groups, etc? Think about the principal issues and how you’re going to accomplish them.
• Website Development - what behaviors do you want from people?
• Community Development - how are you going to engage your community? How do you create space for community online and use Facebook missionally?
• Church Management - online donations, event registration, etc.

Drew Goodmanson serves as CEO of Monk Development and is co-founder/pastor at Kaleo Church. Monk is an internet strategy and development company. Drew often speaks at conferences about how churches can use the internet, his blog is recognized as one of the Top Church Blogs, he wrote a chapter in Voices of the Virtual World: Participative Technology and the Ecclesial Revolution and his company’s services are used by thousands of churches and ministries. Kaleo Church is a missional community, multi-site church planting movement in San Diego, CA. Drew spends much of his time thinking about church planting, web missiology and blogs about it at goodmanson.com.

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Monk Development and a number of other faith-based media outlets are sponsoring a study of the Church online… looking at how churches are using and interacting with social media and the web. [Check out Drew's blog for more.]

Some results they found…

• 51% of participating churches are on Facebook
  - Churches are using Facebook as an extension of their church.
  - More informational, used more as communications vehicle, less of a community building presence.
• Limited use of MySpace, Second Life, GoogleGroups, etc.
• 21% on Twitter
• A small number are using a members portal or private community site (Unifyer, TheCommon.org, 360Hubs, etc).
• 82% of surveyed churches didn’t even know about the different products out there.
• Encourage your church to register your church name on different social media outlets so you have rights to your name.
• Church networking and community sites have made little inroads into the church.
• A problem with all of the different avenues out there is that there’s not a collected, central spot to communicate from… especially if your church is not leading the way and providing a consistent platform for people to use.

Social Media Desires
What feature/funcationality are people in our churches looking for from our church websites?

• Event Sign-up/RSVP’s.
• Post Prayer Requests.
• Connect People to Service Opportunities.
• Connect with Small Groups.
• Integration with church website.
• Resource sharing.
• Ability to access TV/phone directory.

Congregations didn’t care about:

• blogging
• ability to post classifieds
• ability to post photos in photo galleries
• ability to post jobs

Most mainstream social networking sites do no offer churches the seamless solutions they seek.

Questions to Ask on Building Community

1. Is virtual community real community?
2. What is Biblical community? How are we living out Biblical community in a real way?
3. How can technology assist in this process? It can assist, but it cannot replace. It must drive people into real relationships.

Discipleship

1. How many of you feel like you have been discipled online? Online discipleship is a dangerous thing when it’s done outside of real life relationships. It’s more than courses, training and learning… it’s about relationships.
2. How can technology assist this process? There are tools and resources we can use to communicate and enhance discipleship.

Most church online media is used for communication, contact, event and small group management, etc. Primarily focused on “us” and not focused on the individual and not contributing to building community, connecting people, etc.

Top challenges of using social media in churches.

• Amount of effort required
• Identifying appropriate goals/ROI
• Fostering real community
• Cultural resistance from congregation or church leadership.

For more information about the State of the Church Online Study, click here.

Also, check out the Cobblestone Community Network, a new tool designed to help the Church be the Church, online… designed by Drew + his team at Ekklesia360.

Really excited to be heading to Dallas tomorrow with Jason Widney to check out the Echo Church Media Conference. Should be a blast!

Really looking forward to be hearing from a great line-up of speakers including: Phil Vischer, Ben Arment, Phil Cooke, Mark Steele, Dawn Nicole Baldwin, Cynthia Ware, Matt Knisely, Shawn Wood, Drew Goodmanson, Carlos Whittaker, Greg Atkinson, Richard Reising… and many more!

I’ll be blogging my notes and Tweeting away, so be sure to stay tuned!