Basic Elements of a Church Website

This page outlines what should be considered the minimum requirements for a church website.
Make sure your site isn't missing something important!

Regular Services: Times & Types

Every church site should contain basic information about its regular services - whether they be on Sunday or another day. As a minimum people will want to know the start times and whether there are children's groups, nursery services, or other special focus groups. Also, if you have more than one service, and they are of different types (for example: one upbeat/contemporary, another more classic/reserved or liturgical), then it's best to list this up-front and perhaps even include a small description of what a person can expect at the service.

Make sure that this information is up-to-date, and provide the details for special services (e.g. at Christmas) well in advance.

Church Ministries, Outreaches, and Groups

Before you get too far into designing your site, it's important to have in mind a specific structure and/or hierarchy to your site. Rather than starting to build your site as it comes into your head (or heads, if you're using a team), take the time to sit out and PLAN your site. For instance - do you need to have a separate section for your church missions program? Do you have separate ministries for college people vs. career age, and do they need separate sections on your website for information? Does your church have outreach events (such as music concerts, plays or drama events, etc) that you want to advertise to the local community - and should there be a separate area of your site for this?

It is best if a decent sized group of church leaders get together, and discuss what the key areas of your church's ministry are, and how they logically group together. A popular method is to use a small set of sticky notes, and to write down a single ministry name or idea on each one, and then to post them up in logical groupings. This will give you a good idea of how to structure your site, and what is of more importance, and what is of lesser.

Explanation of the Christian Faith

Let people know what the church believes, in simple jargon-free language. If you don't fancy writing your own explanation then perhaps consider linking to someone else's.

An attractive way of explaining the difference which Christianity makes is provide the testimonies of a few church members. If you do this, then get testimonies from a range of different people (e.g. a teenager, a young mother, a middle-aged couple, etc).

If your church runs an Introductory type course where people can investigate Christianity for themselves, make sure you create a page about it. Then link to it from your other pages about the Christian faith.

Directions/Map, Street Address, and Contact Information

Show where you are so that people can come and find you! Be sure not to just show a limited map image, but to also include common routes from easily found public areas or roads. Never assume that the people who want to visit your church know the local area well enough to find it.

If drawing your own map is too hard, then link to an online street map.

Be sure to also clearly show your street address and some contact information, such as a phone number. When new visitors are trying to find your church, they will appreciate having something specific to ask directions towards (if they get lost), or be able to have a phone number to call in a pinch (if possible).

Contact details

It is easy to provide contact details for your church minister and/or church office (if you have one). Let people know a general phone number and e-mail address if at all possible. If you are adverse to putting a general email address on the page (which I believe should always be done), then at least provide an easy-to-use form, and be sure to have someone regularly receiving and responding to any valid submitted requests.