Why a Church Website?
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Today, there is a spiritual war being waged. In the past years, that has crossed over unto the internet.
As a church grows, it becomes important to be able to keep up with the technology; provide an outreach to as many people as possible; create the bridges of communication for your members; and to preach the gospel to everyone, so that the lost can come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior.
We can design your website to provide the capability of receiving online love offerings; let your web visitors know what you believe in; receive questions from web visitors who want to know more about the Bible, your church, and our Lord. A church without a website is a church that's not on the roadmap, according to the head of a Web development company that specializes in building websites for larger congregations. By Rhoda Tse Terrell Sanders, president of Main Street Enterprises, said websites are imperative for church growth.
"Your target audience for church growth is Internet-savvy," he stated in an article for the Purpose Driven ministry. "Most church growth comes from the 18-to-18 range – people from 18 years old to families with 18-year-old children. This also happens to be the group with the highest Internet usage. According to research by the U.S. government, teenagers and families with children at home are the most frequent Internet users of any demographic group. Using the Internet to communicate with families and young adults is a natural fit."
"A whole generation exists that will seek religion online," he continued.
According to the book Boiling Point by George Barna, 10 to 20 percent of the population will rely on the Internet for all of their spiritual input and output by 2010.
"Whether you like it or not, the prediction seems to be right on track," Sanders commented. "When these people go to the Internet with spiritual questions, who will be providing the answers? What will they be taught?"
Sanders said he finds plenty of middle-level church leaders who wish for a website but are often blocked by the senior leadership – who are generally older and don't use the Internet much.
"They're like, 'I don't use the Web. I don't know if anyone else would.'"
"A lot of the senior ministry leaders are older. They are over 40, and they didn't grow up with technology," he explained. "When they're thinking marketing, they think Yellow Pages."
But the target audiences for church growth are those who use the Internet often, and don't even have a Yellow Pages book, added Sanders.
These seekers often search online for a church long before they even get to the city, he said. And those without a website simply don't exist.
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