Stuart was kind enough to post a comment asking for helpful hints for building a web site as a lay person. My comment grew larger than the comment window, so I decided to just post this in case it is helpful for small churches using an all lay person team to build their a website.
First of all, Stuart, bless you and all those out there like you with willing hearts who want to contribute something via the web. I pray you can get it done and done in a timely manner.
It is impossible for me to download 7 years of thinking about this stuff into a simple post, but let me get you started with just a few tips:
Don’t over reach. Understand your churches needs and the expectations of those who care about the project.
Don’t get too many people involved. If it is a small site, keep the total team smaller than 5 … including decision makers.
Know your audience. Is it insiders or outsiders? Is it local people or people new to the area?
Focus on your churches message and mission. What are you on about? What kind of church are you. Use stories and editorial type content to show who you are.
Make sure you have enough budget and resources. Don’t do the project as a lay person without that. Free labor is enough that the church can spend some money on this.
Decide if the site is large enough to need a content management system or not. I would say anything larger than 50 pages needs to be on a CMS.
If you go with a CMS, don’t build it from scratch. Learn more in a slideshow I did for MinistryCom a long time ago.
Know what pages you need and have someone qualified do the writing. Have them do it before you organize your site (Information Architecture) and design anything.
Decide what the photography budget is, what kind of photography you have of your own people already, and how it will be used. No photography is a bad option, bad photography is a worse option.
Stay the course by managing the project as you would any technology project. Establish a scope of work early and stick to it. Don’t budge and let the head pastor dream or dictate after you start.
I realize some of these may not be doable in your environment, but this is sort of a 101 to building a church website as lay person. I tried it once and failed, and then made a pitch to a church to come on as an employee to get it done. Still took me four years to do it great. This is hard stuff, but stay encouraged about the impact it can have on the life of the Body. It is well worth the effort if you have most of the above.
If anyone has any questions, please post them in comments. My time is limited with me moving to a new role at a new church, but I would be happy to help if I can.
Over the last four years, Stonebriar Community Church has blessed me with the chance to learn web design, agile project management, application development, and most importantly what the inside of a church is really like. I was given opportunity within Web Ministry when there was barely such a thing. For that I am very grateful and am forever changed.
But as I mentioned on my personal blog five days ago, I am returning to my roots in IT Management and going to work for a large church in West Palm Beach, Florida named Christ Fellowship. The role (not the title) will be CIO, with a focus on not just day to day management, but partnering with senior leadership on creating a technology plan that matches their vision for additional multi-campus growth in a region with over 1M lost souls. Palm Beach County, here I come. Christ Fellowship also has dreams of doing their own version of an Internet campus and allowing people to connect online. First up is to put a team together to redo their website in short order while we plan for a bigger web project.
I need to share at least three things that hooked me into believing this is a church who is ready to leverage Church IT.
During the interview process I met with the core leadership team, the directional leadership team members (five), the Executive Pastor, and the Head Pastor. This told me the role and technology itself is a priority for them.
When I met with the 60+ year old Head Pastor for an hour with my wife, he said:
“We have 1,600 people watching our service online every weekend. That is a mega-church right there. We need an internet campus now!”
The leaders said they not only need change, but they require change from their staff. This was backed up by the fact they have leadership expert John Maxwell on staff as a teacher and ministry partner. Who isn’t changed by that guys stuff?
I could not be more humbled or more thrilled to be called to this exciting church and one amazing opportunity to do what God has crafted me to do. You can read more on my personal blog about what this means for my family. I am not yet sure what it means for this blog or my freelance business. This site may be going away as I focus in on my new role managing 8 people and playing with some really advanced technology I have not had my hands on in a few years now. In any case, I will be blogging somewhere about what I am doing and we’ll point you there as soon as I know. If you have any ideas, feel free to comment or skype me at verticalcashew. I know I am interested in being involved more with the Church IT RoundTable.
Overall I am incredibly pleased with the outcome of the site. But l am also glad people are commenting about the good, the bad, and the ugly about the site. It’s the best way for us to get better! As I have said before, no website is perfect or will stay perfect. To all those churches out there struggling to get a new site launched, remember that the most important thing is to get something out there that is better than what you have and then improve it continually over time. Having a great visual design and sturdy front-end coding are great foundations on which to build out your site over time.
Cranking away in ministry for sneaking on six years has put me in the position to see a number of people burn out, crack, or quit. Have seen morale failure. Have seen tired wives with exhausted eyes who crave attention from anyone that will offer it. I myself have struggled at points with being a ministryoholic and have seen the impact on my family.
Here are some things I like about what the author Anne Jackson is doing with this book:
Bringing out the downsides of working in ministry. Too many people think ministry jobs are easy. They are not.
Dealing with the real problems that families face as a result of their callings.
Uncovering the roots of how ministry staff get into purity problems and become ruined.
Providing options (presumably) for people to break an unhealthy cycle early.
So, I took the survey and would encourage you to take it as well. Let’s give her the inside view of what is really going on in ministry. There are even surveys for ministry spouses & children and ministry volunteers. Anne warns you up front that she gets pretty personal and she certainly does. But she seems to be candid about her own struggles on her personal blog with posts like An Emotional Affair. That makes me trust her and what she is doing on this project.
Here is a little video promo/endorsement from that Ragamuffin Soul dude. Worth a gander.
