Constructing ministry opportunities on the Web

When his family moved to Cherokee County at the beginning of March from Naples, Fla., Ron Lee knew he wanted to find a church that he, his wife Ana, and two children, 11-year-old Alan and 10-year-old Amy, could consider home.

Members of North Naples Baptist Church, Lee asked his pastor for help in finding a congregation in the Canton/Woodstock area. The suggestion was given to go to a church search engine on the Southern Baptist Convention website.

"During the search, a few churches came up," said Lee. "First Baptist Canton had a hyperlink on there, which led me to their home page and information about their church."

Soon, Lee was able to form a mental picture of First Baptist (www.fbccanton.org) in areas such as what the pastor sounded like (through sermon downloads), background information on staff (particularly student ministers who would be working with his children), pictures of members (during activities and fellowships) and ministry opportunities (to be more involved) - all before the first moving box was unpacked.

"The number one way people are locating churches is on the web," said Rod Hampton, web consultant for the Georgia Baptist Convention. "Having a presence on the Internet is a great way for churches to engage in evangelism."

At one time Hampton served as a facilitator for church web sites. He is currently kept busy in developing and maintaining the 40-plus sites of GBC ministries and now only gives out information on resources for churches in building and maintaining their own web page.

Statistics show more churches are utilizing the capabilities of the net in outreach and communicating their ministry. A 2003 survey by Research Services of the Georgia Baptist Convention shows 29% of respondent churches having their own web site. Another 53% use email while 54% of responding churches have Internet access.

An increased use of the web also translates into a growing congregation, according to the survey. The average worship attendance of churches using the Internet and email was reported in the 245-248 range. Those numbers jump to an average worship attendance of 348 for churches having a Web site.

Despite the benefits of having a Web page, the medium should not be seen as a replacement for personal contact.

"I see the benefit in a Web presence for churches and believe God is using it to touch lives and help people locate a church," said Mike Minnix, vice president for evangelism of the Georgia Baptist Convention. "But we also know that the personal witness of the believer is critical. We must never seek to replace the personal touch in evangelism and outreach."

One aspect of having a Web site is its capability to be shaped and serve a specific purpose helpful to the church. Announcements can be posted. Wednesday night menus can be listed. Links to other helpful Web pages are made available to visitors. Members are even able to register for events and tithe online debit and credit cards.

"I'd rather not have all the bells and whistles that we could have on the Web site, but instead make sure that the information is correct," said Harris Malcolm, pastor of Central Baptist Church in Americus (www.cbcamericus.org).

Constantly looking at other Web sites for ideas, Central uses many links to SBC agencies and other ministries for viewers to get a feel for the church. A link to the church newsletter is updated weekly.

"I'm a big Oswald Chambers fan, so there's a link directing people to that site," said Malcolm. "We also have the four spiritual laws in Macro Flash Media, which we got from Campus Crusade."

A technology committee at the church helps in preparing items for the Web site. The main responsibility of maintaining it, though, falls on the shoulders of Wray Skipper, the church's co-Sunday School Superintendent who also is the Internet Technology director at South Georgia Technical College in Americus.

 

Using members' gifts

Previously, a youth in the church had maintained the site. When he went to college, Skipper took over.

"I started doing it initially to where we could have current information on it," stated Skipper. "Gradually, we want to revamp it and put different things on there such as an online prayer request submission and a constantly-updated calendar."

It doesn't hurt to have techno-minded members, admitted Malcolm. "In the last few years, we've had people come into our church who work in technology," he said. "We want to use their gifts within that expertise and their knowledge."

A full-time real estate agent and part-time Web designer, Pam Turner of Spring Place Baptist Church in Chatsworth (www.springplacebaptistchurch.org) sees a lot of possibilities in ministry for churches operating a Web page.

"You can get to a lot more people," she said. "Someone might not necessarily come through the doors, but everyone is on the Web. If you have good information on the site, it's going to benefit anyone who comes across it."

"We've had some visitors learn about our church through the site and other ministers have mentioned that they've seen it," verified pastor Tim Batchelor. "We've talked about having information included on there such as prayer requests and hospital sick lists."

Most churches have their sites kept up to date through members volunteering their time. Turner estimates she spends four to five hours a month working on Spring Place's site. Skipper works about an hour a week updating the site, although that number goes up to possibly eight or ten hours if the format of a page is being overhauled or other major changes are required.

"The only thing updated on a regular basis is the newsletter," said Turner. "We've added an interactive calendar and message board. We just got a new minister of youth, and he asked for that for the students."

Many churches use their Web page to highlight specific ministries or have discovered services especially useful for members.

Carol Crow, Webmaster for Grace Baptist Church in Cartersville, wanted to add to the church's Web site more information about its Awana ministry. Earlier this year, she was handed primary responsibility for maintaining the site (www.gracebaptistcartersville.org).

"Everybody at church loves the Web site," said Crow, who works as a business analyst/technical writer for the Georgia Department of Education. "They love being able to find something on it and don't have to call the church office because it's right there."

Lori Boyd, business administrator at First Canton who also oversees the Web site, says one feature many members and prospects love is the ability to register and pay for events online.

"The biggest thing lately has been online giving," she reported. "People tithe online using PayPal, which is used by Ebay. So many people pay their bills online and don't use checks.

"You can pay and register for events, then come to church and it's all taken care of. It gives people flexibility."

Recently, many ministers have begun noticing the emergence and use of blogs, or Web logs, on the Internet. Individuals are able to use them by posting links they find interesting, displaying pictures, and record their own thoughts and ideas to be shared with others. By and large free to get, First Canton middle school student minister Brent Sheffield has noticed their growth in popularity among youth.

"Overall, about 60% of our students have blogs," said Sheffield. "We've taken a part of our youth page on the site and set it up where students can provide links to their instant messenger profile.

"We hear them talking about what they post on there. A lot of them use the blogs for daily journals. It's good for us to see what's going on in their lives."

"Blogs would be a great tool for a pastor. It's another opportunity for him to speak to the congregation and even have an extended sermon," laughed Turner.

 

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