We get it – Digital Ministry is daunting.

Especially if you aren’t used to navigating the internet.

It can even be daunting even if you are.

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There are constantly new technologies and platforms coming out – Twitter, TikTok, Twitch.
Your trusted platforms are always changing and releasing new features each time.
Every few years there is a new popular app on the rise and a new generation using it.

How are you supposed to keep them all straight? How are you supposed to keep up with this?

Thankfully, Digital Ministry doesn’t have to be as overwhelming as we may make it out to be.

To get started with digital ministry, prioritize your website and Facebook page. Design your website with visitors in mind, keeping it clean, clear, and even cheap. Make sure your Facebook page is up to date, utilize Facebook groups, and focus most of your posts on providing value to your followers.

Focus on these steps to get your website and Facebook presence up to speed, and your church will be welcoming visitors, fostering your church community, and sharing love with your wider community in no time.

Why Have a Website?

Most churches without a website do not have an answer to this question. Unfortunately, many churches with a website do not bother to answer it.

Instead, they make a website just because they feel like they are “supposed to have one.” They upload anything and everything they can think of. It’s messy, it’s overloaded, and nobody uses it anyway.

That sounds like a waste of time to us.

One Answer: Visitors

There is one answer to the question “why have a website?”

Visitors.

Sure, you can make an argument for additional uses. There are always ways around these uses though.

The one thing there is not a way around is visitors Googling your church and expecting all of your information to come up clearly and cleanly.

For whatever reason, many churches allow this very simple task to fall through the cracks. In fact, they make it harder on themselves by filling their website with documents, announcements, and information that needs to be painstakingly changed on the regular.

Keep it Clean and Clear

Potential visitors to your community do not want to hunt to figure out when your worship service is or where you are located. They may not even be sure they want to attend worship at all. If they cannot find the information quickly, you are making it easier for them to give up.

The Basics

Location

You can provide the traditional street address or even beef up your page by providing GPS coordinates and photos of what your building looks like. Either way, this is one of the most important pieces of your website. If people cannot figure out where to go – they won’t come!

Worship Times

As with your building location – if people cannot figure out when they need to be at your church, they won’t come. Be sure to clearly include any pre-worship gathering times or post-worship fellowship as well as who is invited for these social times.

Link

If your worship service is partially or completely offered online, include the link for people to either join or watch live. Include any necessary passwords or instructions for those viewing worship from home.

Mission

Hopefully, your community has a mission statement or clear focus to its ministry. If this is something that is known and practiced, include it boldly on your site. If this is just a group of nice words that you put on brochures, consider holding off until you have a chance to reevaluate.

“I’m New Here”

Visitors typically appreciate a section on your site designated to them and all of their first-timer questions. For some, this is a nice luxury. For others, this is absolutely essential if you want them to show up.

Visitors need to know the answer to questions like:

• What should I wear?
• How long is worship?
• What does communion look like?
• What happens with my kids during worship?
• Do I need to do anything special when I arrive?
• Which door do I go in?
• What will I be asked to do during worship?

Some churches will provide a photo walk-through on their website to lay out the process as fully as possible to any potential guests.

This may seem excessive to some, but just a few hours of your focused effort now may benefit future visitors for years to come.

Statement of Faith

Whether you have a denominational statement of faith or your own community beliefs, give them a spot on your site. This is also a good opportunity to declare who is welcome at your church.

If you are a Reconciling in Christ community or an open and affirming congregation, shamelessly share who you are including in your welcome. Our BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ siblings and allies look closely for clarifications like these.

Giving Opportunity

Making the giving process too complicated is a disservice to you and your people. Ensure your giving button is easy to find and that the service you use is simple to navigate.

Contact Form

If people want to be able to contact you, they need to be able to contact you! Placing a form directly on your site makes it clear that you welcome communication from any and all.

Ongoing Events

If you have regular events or meetings that you want to list, be sure to include the dates, times, and contact information for the main leader.

Do not feel like you need to constantly update this page. You should not have to update your website if the group decides not to meet for a week. People can be directed to the group leader or to an alternate site or social media page for more up to date information.

Sermons

Whether you upload your weekly message on your site or on a podcast platform, they should be easy to find. Don’t sweat it if you are not operating on that level yet – this is more of a luxury item. However, if you go through the trouble of recording, you want to make sure people can listen!

Yes, Your Site Can Be Basic

It can even be cheap!

It is much more important that your information is clear and easy to find than it is that your website is fancy or expensive.

Do not be overwhelmed by the infinite web design options out there. Find a web designer that you trust, focus on your potential visitor, and get your information out there.

Ask for Outside Perspective

Getting feedback from someone who does not attend your church may be one of the most beneficial decisions you can make for your business.

Ask this person to look at your site and make note of anything that is confusing or missing. Have them pretend they are getting ready to attend your church and share any unanswered questions they still have.

Social Media 101: Facebook

The best place to begin when you are getting started with digital ministry is with Facebook.

While there are platforms that are more popular with different age groups, Facebook is the most used social media platform in the world. If you are looking to start somewhere with social media, this is it.

Facebook also has the capability to foster your church community’s personal interactions as well as public communications. It does this best through two methods: Groups and Pages.

Facebook Group:

Think of a Private Facebook Group like the digital living room for your church.

This is a helpful feature to set up, because you can invite your church members (and only your church members!) into this private area on Facebook.

Once they are in, they can share more personal prayer requests, images of their kids’ accomplishments, or general questions/reactions to the day-to-day happenings of your church.

The point of this group is to deepen relationships, so stay active and do not let it just become a place to announce various events or updates.

Facebook Page:

If your private Facebook Group is the digital living room for your church, the page is the front porch.

It is where people check you out from a distance way before they ever commit to coming inside. This page is public for all to see.

Update it!

As with your website, your information needs to be clear and accurate. It might be worth jotting a note on your calendar every 3-6 months to check in with your Facebook page information to make sure nothing has changed.

It is easy to forget to update an event or time change on Facebook, since you are likely so focused on making sure your members get that information elsewhere. You may have even forgotten it was on there!

Provide Value

This is a key takeaway for any Facebook page.

Too often churches use their Facebook pages as a hub for announcements, when in reality, most people online probably don’t care. And even if they do care, they want to see more than that.

Consider how you can best provide value as a church and share related reminders, messages, tips, lessons, offers, jokes, and more.

Whenever you make a post, ask yourself whether this offers your followers something or asks something of them. Strive to offer them something 80% of the time, assuming you will still need to ask of them some of the time!

Share Your Community!

Facebook is great platform for you to showcase some behind-the-scenes footage of what happens in your community on the day-to-day or week-to-week.

• How can you do that?
• Show a video of your staff doing something silly
• Post a photo of your pastor’s sermon preparation
• Share an update of who stopped in and what they did that day
• Showcase a ministry and what they are working on that week
• Give a sneak peak to the songs for this week’s worship
• Poll your followers about a (light) decision that needs to be made
• Highlight a member and an update about their life

These tactics might be less formal than what you are used to, but that is okay! Being raw and real is what builds relationships offline and it will help strengthen the relationships you build online as well.

Don’t Do This Alone

Finally, we want to encourage you to find some volunteers to assist with your voyage into the online space. Technology is not the pastor’s job or the youth leader’s job or even the secretary’s job – it’s everyone’s job!

It is likely that you already have some members who are more skilled with technology than others. Perhaps some use Facebook daily, others love to take photos, and still others are uniquely skilled at welcoming visitors.

Gather these folks together and invite others to join in on the fun. Come up with a system that works for you and your leaders and set off boldly into your new digital space.

You will certainly meet challenges and make mistakes along the way – that’s okay!

The point is that you are reaching out in a new way, an essential way, into the lives of those in your community and those looking at it from the outside in.