It took you some time, but you built a church congregation of Sunday regulars. The synergy and sense of community you’ve created is inspiring.
But, there’s one thing your church lacks, which is a website. It’s 2024, and most organizations and businesses have their own website. Why don’t you have one for your church?
Having a website for your church can foster and grow your congregation.
In this article, we’ll explain three reasons why you should have a website for your church.
Reason One: Show Your Church to the World
Websites serve as the 21st century’s Yellow Pages and then some.
Today, most people looking to join a church will use the internet to find and learn more about their nearby churches. Having a website will give your church the visibility it needs to let people know your church exists.
If you don’t have a website, you’re behind the curve. So now is the time to get one!
Your church website will have basic yet valuable information for people looking to join a church. Here are just a few digital nuggets of gold you can include on your site:
- Your church’s name, location, and contact information.
- Your church’s message and history.
- An introduction of your background as a pastor, your staff, and any personal information you wish to share.
- Photos and videos of church events, like Christmas, Easter, and charity events.
- Information and times of services, Bible studies, support groups, volunteering, and other activities unique to your church.
A website provides a place for people to learn about you, your church, and the community you’ve built. Having a website to showcase what makes your church special will attract site visitors to check out your services, which will help you add to your congregation.
Reason Two: Propel Your Church’s Message
You can also use your website to communicate your church’s message to the world. On a website, you can publish endless amounts of written and video content. Doing this will show people the important messages your church is sharing with the world.
Here are just a few ideas of how you can share your church’s message on a website:
- Post weekly pictures of each sermon.
- Feature videos of your sermon’s main points, your church’s band performing, and people coming together during Bible study.
- Write a weekly blog featuring topics about your sermon. You can even invite congregants to publish their own takes on the lessons you teach.
Your website will show people what makes your church unique. By publishing videos, pictures, and written content, you can give people a strong sense of your church's message and the community that comes with it. A website will also educate people about how joining your church will benefit their lives before they even enter your church’s front door.
Reason Three: Interact with Your Congregation
A website is not just a place that brings your church and its message to the world, it’s also an effective communication tool.
With a website, you can create a calendar that introduces and explains next month’s Bible study topics, your sermons, and guest pastor appearances.
Your congregants will love being informed, and by knowing topics in advance, they’ll be able to prepare their questions so they’ll get the most out of your church's activities.
Take your site a step further and build your own app with Adalo. You don’t need any technical skills or coding knowledge to use Adalo.
Here are just a few features you include in an Adalo-made app:
- An event scheduler and calendar to inform your congregation about upcoming events, create signup forms, and manage everything in one place. A scheduler will save you tons of time and make your life easy!
- A library with clips from past sermons. Organize your library by date or topic and allow your congregation to access it quickly. Congregants can review lessons and sermons, which can enrich their lives and keep them engaged with your church.
- A messaging system for your congregants to communicate directly with you. With a messaging system, neither you nor your congregants will need to sieve through personal WhatsApp or text messages. You’ll have a place dedicated to communication with your congregation about church topics only.
A website gives you a place to organize events and communicate with your congregation. With better organization, more people will want to join your church’s events, which will result in more learning opportunities and people remembering your important messages.
Next Steps: How To Build a Website For Your Church
By now, we’re pretty sure that you want to create a website for your church. Don’t have any coding skills or technical knowledge? No problem – there are two ways you can start building a beautiful and professional looking church website without spending weeks learning technical skills.
We recommend you build your site using one of the two following methods:
1. Build Your Own Site
You can create your own website without knowing anything about programming. Today, website builders use no-code technology, which harnesses the power of a drag-and-drop interface, letting people with zero tech experience build pro-style websites.
The number of codeless site builders available to regular people grows larger every day, so finding a site builder that’s perfect for you might be tough.
Luckily, we have reviewed the majority of them and have chosen our three favorite site builders that you can start using today:
- Adalo: While we mentioned Adalo as an app builder earlier, it’s also a simple-to-use website builder. Adalo has integrations with over 5,500 different tools and programs, like Google, Quickbooks, and Zoom, so you’ll be able to add a seemingly endless number of useful features to enhance your website.
Pricing: Adalo’s pricing starts at $36/month
- Wix: Wix boasts a super easy-to-use site builder. It also provides a huge range of religiously themed templates, so you’ll be able to find something that matches what you want to build. You’ll also have access to a massive library of photos and other design features to beautify your site.
Pricing: Wix starts at $16/month, but to leverage features like analytics, you’ll have to pay $27/month for their Core Plan.
- Squarespace: If you want to make your site as gorgeous as Notre Dame Cathedral, choose Squarespace. While Squarespace doesn’t have as many templates as Wix, its templates’ beauty and sleekness are second to none.
Pricing: Like Wix, Squarespace starts at $16/month, but their $23/month Business Plan gives you additional features like the ability to sell merchandise directly from your site.
2. Hire a Freelancer
Do you know exactly how you want your site to look but don’t have the time to build it yourself? Perfect, because there are plenty of people all around the world who would love to help build your site for you.
Where do you find professionals that can build a slick website? To quickly find a professional, check out Fiverr and Upwork. These platforms have a massive number of website-building freelancers, some of whom bring years of site-building experience.
Browse through a list of website-building freelancers and review their past work so you can decide if they’ll be a good fit for you.
You’ll also be able to message and communicate with these freelancers after you hire them. You and your freelancer can determine a fair price for building your site, and you can periodically check up on their progress so you’ll have an idea of how your site will appear.
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