Sometimes when I talk about church websites, social media, or marketing in relation to the church people get their hackles up. Today I want to talk a bit about why I think how we do these things is important and to tackle some of the most popular complaints I hear from folks:

* Our website is fine the way it is. Sure it’s not flashy, but we should be spending time and money on more important things!

Your website is your front door. It shows who you are as a community. People need to be able to enter into the story of your church through your website. Without that they might never even come to your services or be a part of your groups. If your website is hard to navigate, if people can’t find the information they need, if people are engaged by your site they won’t join your community.

(here are some tips for your church website)

* We don’t do our work in the world to get attention, we prefer to just quietly serve God. Getting media attention is antithetical to who we are as a church.

I get this impulse and if that’s really how you feel as a community then nothing I say will convince you otherwise. But I think this is why our churches are shrinking, this is one of the reasons (though definitely not the only one) for the rise of the “nones”, this is why the right wing has a monopoly of press about what it means to be a Christian in the United States.

I don’t think you have to trumpet every good deed you do to the world, but you do need to communicate who it is that you are and why you exist. If people don’t know about you they can’t find you. And if they don’t know why you exist they can’t join in your work.

* Marketing for the church just allows people to be consumers.

Maybe. Or maybe marketing is just a word for the way that you tell the story of who you are as a community. There are tons of churches out there (and more forming every day). Gone are the days where there was only one church per town. Gone are there days where there was only one church per denomination per town. Now there’s a church on every corner and several denominational churches per town. Not only that but people are feeling less and less dedication to denominational ties. They go to the church they feel like they can find a home in. Some folks are upset by that; they say it leads to people who are passive consumers of the services the church has to offer. I tend to think of it as people searching for the community they can feel comfortable in. They are searching for the people they can work with, people they can be in relationship with.

When I’m thinking about the new church start, I realize that what we’re doing won’t be for everyone. There are some folks for whom Catholic liturgy doesn’t resonate. I am feeling less and less convinced that our churches need to be able to meet everyone’s needs. In fact, I would rather have a smaller church of people who are committed to our work and our community and to be able to refer folks to other churches where they can be committed. If people aren’t feeling connected to our mission it might be something that we’re doing wrong, or it might be that they need to be in a different place with people who communicate in a different way.

* The church isn’t a business.

You’re completely right. The church isn’t a business and shouldn’t be run like one! However, there are some principles coming out of the business sector (especially from people who are doing creative things) that are incredibly meaningful when applied to the church work that we are doing. I recommend that every pastor read Seth Godin’s “The Icarus Deception”. It is a message that pastors need to hear and take to heart. (In fact, all of Godin’s work has been incredibly helpful to me.)

Here’s the bottom line for me: I believe in the story of Christianity. I believe in the church. I believe in the power that Christianity and the church have to literally save people’s lives. But if people don’t know that we exist, then we are unable to reach them. If the only churches they see on tv are the ones that are preaching hate filled message or a prosperity Gospel then they will stop looking.

Because I believe so strongly in this work I will do whatever it takes to reach people. If that means buying Facebook ads, making sure we have a table at Pride, sending a press release about my ordination, getting a really nice looking logo, learning from marketers, etc. I will do it. I will do all of this as part of my work and my ministry because all of this work IS ministry.

I also believe that we can communicate the same story in a myriad of ways: Through praise bands and Gregorian chant, through screens in the sanctuary and through stained glass windows, in jeans and in albs.

We need to communicate why it is that we exist and who it is that we are.

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The other week I was watching some TED Talks. I’ve only recently gotten into listening to these, but I am learning a ton from them.

I watched a talk by Simon Sinek called “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.” It’s geared toward businessy folks, but I found a lot of resonance to the work that I am doing with both Camp Osiris and House of the Transfiguration. He talks about how every group communicates the answers to three questions: what, how, and why. Most groups start with the what, move to the how, and end with the why, but Sinek says, great leaders lead with Why. 

As I thought about my own efforts to get the word out about the new church start and the camp, I have often led with the What. Camp Osiris is a camp for queer and/or trans* people who want to talk about the intersections between Christianity and their queer and/or trans* identities. Then I move to the how: We have retreats. We have amazing discussions, we create wonderful community. And then, if there is still time I talk about why. Same thing for the church: We are an Old Catholic community that is open to all. We mix the ancient and the modern. Etc.

What happens when you lead with the why instead? It creates a more compelling story. We know that people are drawn in by stories, that they care less about the details and more about the narrative. Leading with why lets people know there is a reason for what you are doing. I think often churches lead with the what and the how. We are such and such denomination. We have all of these programs. We do this cool event or reach out to this group. All of that stuff is important, but it’s not the heart. Why? Why do you do what you do? Even more than that, why are you compelled to do what you do?

There is a unique reason for every church or group to exist. There are specific people we are each called to. I would encourage you to spend some time thinking about your particular why and think about how to lead with that why when you are talking about the mission of your church or group.

I would love to hear the why’s of your church, non-profit, or other cause in the comments. Why do you feel called to be involved in this work? Why did it start? Why do you exist? Why is there a need for what you’re doing? Why do you think people should be involved? Tell me why!

(This post on the Camp Osiris site is my first attempt at leading with the “why”)

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Dear Church,

We need to have a talk. It’s about your website. I can see you rolling your eyes. “Not this conversation again. You youngish folks are always bringing up the website. We’ve done the best we can with it.” I know you hate this conversation, but here’s the thing: Your website matters. And, at this moment, your website is terrible.

I know you’ll say that you don’t have the money or the skills to redo your website. You’ll claim that every single group/document/event/bylaws/constitution/budget/history/archives absolutely MUST be on the website. You’ll say that it’s just a website, it gets the information to people so what does it matter? You’ll say your site is at least better than Church A down the street. Those excuses don’t hold water anymore.

Here’s the thing: Your website is your new front door and right now your front door is chained shut. Or worse it’s flaking and peeling and looking like it’s about 300 years old (and hasn’t been used in at least 150 of those years). And if your front door looks like that, no one wants to come in. It’s not inviting. I (and other people I know) have not visited churches simply because of their website. You are losing out on reaching your community because your site is so terrible.

I know you want to concentrate on important things like ministry, but you need to see your website as a vital ministry of your church. You want to reach people and your website is one of your most important tools to do that.

I love you and want you to succeed and so I want to offer these helpful tips:

* Remember who your website is for. A lot of churches are designing websites for folks who are already in the congregation; I think this is the wrong choice. Your website is about reaching folks who aren’t a part of your community yet.

* If you can’t afford a total site overhaul at least keep your design simple. No clutter, just straightforward.

*Have important information on the front page! Service times, address, phone number, email address. People don’t want to click through 17 pages just to get your address.

* Focus on lots of vibrant images of church life and only a little bit of text.

* No animated GIFs (blinking rainbows, angels, or email icons). No automatically playing music or videos. JUST NO.

* In fact, unless they are professionally designed graphics, just leave them out. Put actual photos instead.
Less is more. I know you’re worried about having EVERYTHING on the website, but most people just want the basics. Again, your site is for people outside of your community.

* Don’t lie about your community. Be authentic. If you have ONE young adult, don’t fill your church website with photos of young people everywhere. A young person might visit and they’ll know in about five seconds they’ve been lied to and won’t come back.

* Don’t have a generic contact form: put your actual email address. It’s easier to use and folks can send attachments if they need to.

I know you can do this! These are simple things that you can do to take a church website from terrible to helpful. Of course I recommend hiring a web designer if you can afford it, but even if you can’t you can at least make some changes that will help.

Our communities need to know who we are, they need to know about the work that we do. We don’t want our websites to be a barrier to folks finding community. That’s why we have to do better!

With love,
The Anarchist Reverend

Ps, here are some examples of some really good church websites (even though I don’t agree with the theology or practices of all of the churches listed here, they have very effective websites):
Judson Memorial Baptist
Salem Lutheran
Mill City Church
Awaken Community Church
Old South Church
Mars Hill
Mars Hill Chicago
Judson Memorial, NYC
Renovation Church

Want posts by email and occasional extras, including my new ebook “A Guide To Recovering From Fundamentalism”?