Recently (two days ago), I had the good fortune to hand over the reins of my church website to someone else. While I have been the webmaster over the last three (3) years, I have actually put one up (we only had the domain prior), setup everyone’s email accounts, scoured all our handouts for content, purchased a template and made (very) few changes.
I am sure this is typical of many churches.
You manage to get someone who can setup the website. (In case that person is you, our main site has all you need to know to get started.) He/She gets started and immediately runs into a problem. (OK, they probably ran into one when they needed to figure out the username/password combination for the domain registrar or hosting company, since the person who originally set it “hasn’t worshipped here in a while”.) They have precious little content and, despite their best effort, no one is willing to step forward. Now, keep in mind, that the senior pastor will probably commit to putting their sermon on the website “every week”. Each department has also been told they need to provide initial and ongoing content for their events in order to show visitors how dynamic their congregation and ministries. The church secretary has been asked for the bulletin and any other material that gets sent out. Still, there is an empty website.
Why?
It’s really hard to keep the momentum moving. Someone not only has to receive all this information, but also format it and make sure it’s timely.
Sound familiar?
If it doesn’t, you either have one very determined webmaster or someone on staff is tasked with the responsibility of managing your church communications. As much as I like the idea of a willing volunteer (webmasters sheepishly raise their hands), I prefer having a communications director for the church.
A what you say?
You heard me, communications director. And its better if they are on staff. Still, very few churches have one.
Why would you want to add another salaried person to your meager staff, especially when tithes are hard to come by? Well, because while even the most fervent evangelist can bring in new members, they can’t copy/paste, edit content and “pretty” it up all the while presenting a cohesive (and coherent) message about your ministry. And don’t even get me started on the church podcast. It really takes time and talent, and we should consider the benefits of having someone manage how we present our ministries to the outside world.
[Update] Unfortunately, the person who volunteered for this ministry was unable to take the reigns. I fully understand. Its a daunting task to be the one who manages the “online presence” of a ministry. Fortunately, I can keep doing this for the time being. In my mind, it simply justifies my thoughts above.
