New Online Tool for Church Websites
Feb 21st, 2007 by Doug
I posted this before, but here is some updated information about this year’s Internet Evangelism Day.
Summary
New online self-assessment tool from the Internet Evangelism Day team enables churches to develop and improve their websites. And this year’s web evangelism focus day is set for 29 April 2007.
“Does your church’s website communicate to outsiders as well as to the members?” asks a new web resource. A church site is the congregation’s ’shop window’ to its community. To fulfill this function well, it must be enticing, people-centered and easily understood by outsiders. Unfortunately, many churches are unsure how to achieve this vital mix.
So the Internet Evangelism Day team has produced an online self-assessment tool. It leads a church through a series of questions, to highlight areas of their website which may need development:InternetEvangelismDay.com/design
This questionnaire can also be easily added to other webpages using an insertion code.
A church site which has been prioritized for non-Christian visitors can be remarkably effective in reaching the community. “Week in, week out, more visitors turn up at our church on a Sunday because of the website, than anything else,” writes one growing church in London.
The Internet Evangelism Day (’IE Day’) site also explains other types of online evangelism, such as outreach websites, video clips, blogging and podcasts. There is even a free conversation starter) screen-saver to download.
Holding a focus day The IE Day team also encourages churches and other groups to hold their own ‘web awareness’ focus day on (or near) 29 April 2007. The IE Day site provides downloadable video clips, drama sketches, posters, handouts and a PowerPoint presentation, making it easy for any church to create its own IE Day program. This can as brief as a 2-minute spot within a worship time, or an entire themed church service, seminar, or midweek meeting.
Churches that have already held their own focus day are enthusiastic. “It was a real eye-opener for many,” writes one in Muncie, Indiana. “We held a midweek evening presentation of 90 minutes, for other local churches,” says another from Dawlish UK.
A Canadian church leader comments, “I used a 10-minute presentation that focused on how anyone can get involved in reaching out to the Internet community. I also added a section on using our church website as an evangelism tool, as some of our members have already had great success with it.”
“I pray that Internet Evangelism Day challenges more to become involved for this expanding harvest field,” says Keith Seabourn, Chief Technology Officer for CCCI.
Internet Evangelism Day is an initiative of the Internet Evangelism Coalition, an umbrella group of major interdenominational Christian groups involved in Web ministry, of which CCCI is an executive member, and has a number of teams directly involved in a wide range of web evangelism and discipleship ministries.
Interviews available: InternetEvangelismDay.com/publicity
Photos available: InternetEvangelismDay.com/photos
Recommended photo for this item: InternetEvangelismDay.com/churchphoto
Additional articles - ready-made material and MP3s: InternetEvangelismDay.com/articles
Leaders supporting IE Day: InternetEvangelismDay.com/supporting
