I need to let those who follow me to pass along to their respective churches.
As a past pastor of 2 churches in 2 different states, I've always looked at it from the pastor's point of view; now I've come at it from the 'seeker' side of the information. In putting those two views together, let me tell you what I've found AND not found.
First of all, in looking for information about local (to me in Spring Hill, Kansas)churches, I found two Baptist churches within 8 miles of me that have NO website. Maybe that doesn't ring for some of you out there but let me remind you that it is the 21st century. To have nothing directing people to your church on the web is a mistake of the first order! A great number of people don't even keep a telephone directory in their house; many don't even have an old style telephone line & number. In my household I dropped a POTS (plain old telephone system) line over a year ago and I was a holdout. When I receive a telephone book (and believe me, since I live in a town that stradles 2 counties, I get numerous phone books) they don't even come in my house, they go straight to the recycle bin. I get all my information like that from the internet. And in case you're not familar with me and decide to relegate my opinion to some 'young whippersnapper' I'm almost 62 years old. When you have NO website information, some will never know you even exist! I am painfully aware that some churches are NOT on the main streets of towns and cities. Secondly IF they know you exist they will not come if they don't know who you are! Websites can be put up for free! It doesn't have to be fancy. In fact some more of the fancy church websites should take heed to the fact that at least a portion of the people will be searching on a cellphone that may not work well with image laden or flash laden sites. Churches need to consider either putting a parallel mobile site or making sure that there is a place on your site that is not 'image heavy' or 'glitz laden'. People are coming to your website to get information about your church, not to be 'dazzled' by your website design!
Now as to the information needed by people considering coming to your church, first I want to address something totally non-internet related. PUT UP YOUR SERVICE TIMES!!!!! While you would think that I'm stupid for saying that, we have a local church here in Spring Hill, Kansas that, if you go to their church building; you drive to their church, they have NO information about when their service times are or what services they even have!! How can someone come to your church service if you don't even tell them on your church sign or building when your services are held? Do you have a Sunday School for their children? Do you have a Sunday evening or midweek service? Without service times posted at your church you are saying, "please don't come to our church. We are happy without you coming." Is that really the message you want to convey? I don't believe that was Jesus' message!
Now, back to your 'free if necessary' website, what information are people looking for? Here are a few of those things (not exhaustive):
Service Times --When do you worship?
What is offered during the service such as a nursery.
Style of dress (traditional, casual, etc) Be honest here. If you say casual but everyone is dressed in suits, ties and the women are all wearing heels, they may immediatley walk back out of your front door.
Type of service and worship style: Traditional, contemporary, high energy? Be specific, do you sing traditional hymns or is it more modern day contemporary songs? Perhaps it's high intensity? Just say whatever it is. If you say 'blended' or 'fusion' you may have just confused some people and they will reject your church because they don't understand what that means; again, be specific!
Does your church have group activities? Activities for children, teens, seniors; women, men, etc? Again be honest about whether you truly have them or not. People appreciate honesty, especially from a church!
Consider a short statement about belief. It doesn't have to be extensive but people would like to know whether or not there may be, for example, "speaking in tongues", in your church service. Again, be clear what they can expect.
Don't use your statement of beliefs to 'put down' others. I was reading a 'Beliefs" statement from a church in Olathe, KS last Saturday. At the top of the statement of beliefs they said they were nondenominational and stated they believed that denominations were used frequently to divide christians and not unite them. Fair enough. But then further down in their statement of beliefs they stated that they were pretribulational; premillennial in their beliefs. I admire their honesty and being specific but they just said denominations divide. What are denominations but churches who believe certain things about the Bible and band together to accomplish Christ's mission with like-minded christians? Being specific is imperative but take a second look at your statement of beliefs and see if it is contradictory.
Lastly (again not an exhaustive list), keep you site up to date. Many church sites I visited in the last week or so, have on their list of upcoming events, Thanksgiving or Christmas of last year.
You don't have to change the site everytime, just make sure it's up to date. Also, on your main web page, put the date of the latest update.
A church website can be complicated and in depth or very simple but informative. Let's use every means to reach those around us for Christ!
