Parabéns pelo artigo muito bom.

I from Brazil.

Internet is one of the most effecient tool in preaching to the unreached. it brake alot of bandries and came be tolorated by alot of people bcause of it’s nature. i know, somebody is not ther talking to them about christ but they getting to see for themselfs that ‘s realy the massage about christ.

make no mistake about it, many people all over the world today are getting saved through the internet. i have alot of testemonies to back this so let your church be a part of this ban wagon of soul winning for christ. the issure is get the people to understand the advantage of it. they will accept it.

Tim, thanks for your perspective. That’s a good point that a church website should not be the tail that wags the dog. It should emerge out of the goals and needs of the church.

In this day and age, I doubt there are many entire congregations that don’t want a website. What I think many, particularly “mainstream denomination” churches deal with is a generational divide where the majority of the congregation would find a website very useful, but a vocal minority is resistant, probably the same minority that resists changing the color of the carpet, adding a video projector, and signing contemporary worship songs.

I’m not being harsh — but I still stand by the fact that most congregations just need 5 good static page web site.

My experience shows that unless web sites for congregation emerge out of services the actual needs of the congregation — then most of what passes for a church web site is not used and designers get frustrated.

So does that mean no church web sites? No, it just means that every church doesn’t need a web site with a CMS or opt-in newsletter or RSS feed or blog.

I’d rather all these volunteer and pro designers spend more time finding a real hungry audiences and building solutions for them — rather than trying to convince an unwilling congregation to visit YOUR web site. I’d rather them just start using the web for spiritual formation rather than to support the local church.

Just my 2 cents.

First I want to point out that a website is a tool. Use it the proper way and it is worth it weight, use it the wrong way and it is like throwing money down a black hole. Think about it for a second, the first preacher to use a radio or the first TV evangelist to reach millions of listeners, how many, and I am going to change the terminology from “old folks” to doubters said it was a waste or it will never catch on. Look at where it is today. The Internet is not only a tool for people to sell goods, do research, keep in touch with friends and family all over the world but also a place where the church can reach out to the world. I feel that a church today that wants to grow has to use every tool in its power to for it’s outreach. Just to add a couple of other points about the power of a good church website. The area I live in is one of the fastest growing areas in the state. With families moving in to our area every day a website search of churches in the area could cause a good church to be missed if they do not have one online. In the past I may have used the yellow pages but right now the only thing I do with that book is use it as a doorstop. Another thing that our church has done, besides giving a potential member a view of just about everything you want to know about our church, it has also been use during times of crisis. We live in a hurricane active area. The church has gone to the website to advise people if the church was going to be in operation during inclement weather. We are now working on hurricane awareness, and preparedness side of our website, which not only is an outreach but also a community service. This is a powerful tool and use the right way should be embraced by all of the non-doubters.

Your brother in Christ, Jim Howard

Our site for the public is intended to inform the public about our church as well as give opportunity for exposure to the gospel, including a gospel presentation and some sermons.

Our secondary site will be accessed via password and will have directory information as well as items specific to church life (ie announcements, sermons etc).

It is a challenge to engage a congregation in understanding the relevancy of a website. We’ve made up “webcards” (the size of business cards) that we leave at our information booth. These can be given out by our congregation or picked up by visitors that want to know more about our church. This has been effective.