New Online Tool for Church Websites

"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 fulfil this function well, it must be enticing, people-centred and easily understandable 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:
www.InternetEvangelismDay.com/design

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.

The Internet Evangelism 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 'Internet Evangelism Day' program. This can as brief as a 2-minute spot within a worship service, or an entire themed service, seminar, or midweek meeting.

Churches that have already held their own Internet Evangelism Day are enthusiastic. "It was a real eye-opener for many," writes one. "We held a midweek evening presentation of 90 minutes, for other local churches," says another.

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."

Internet Evangelism Day is an initiative of the Internet Evangelism Coalition, an umbrella group of major interdenominational Christian ministries involved in the Web.
www.InternetEvangelismDay.com