WEBSITE BASICS -- Evangelism Emphasis

An Evangelism Emphasis Is Often Neglected On Ministry & Local Church Websites

What is ministry for?  What is the local church for?  Surely it is to communicate the gospel. What are ministry and local church websites for?  Surprisingly, only a small number of ministry and local church websites contain content that communicates the gospel. Even fewer explain it in accessible terms relevant to non-Christians. And only a tiny percentage of websites carry testimonies of members who's lives have been transfored by the power of the gospel.

It is refreshing to see a local church website that has been designed with a very clear evangelistic emphasis right from the front page. Rupert Line in Australia manages the Elizabeth Church of Christ site and writes:

When I first started thinking about the website for our church, I looked around the web for ideas; my wife and I looked at a lot of church sites, to work out what made a good site good, and vice versa. The pastor of the church and I always wanted the focus to be evangelistic, not inward-looking. Very early in my searching, I came across the Web Evangelism Guide. I gobbled it up, and there were many, many fantastic ideas. I then set out to do our site largely based on that. So, there is a church section (quite a large one), but it's very unobtrusive from the home page. There is no jargon on the site, except for a page devoted to explaining it! There is a page to explain the gospel as clearly as I could write it. There is an "Answers" page, which is growing, and again, tries to give clear, honest answers to common questions. There is a testimony page, but it's called "Changed Lives." The testimonies are, as far as possible, written in the style set out in the Guide. There's a page called "Spirituality" (again, note that it's not "Religions," but the more catchy "Spirituality") which compares and contrasts major religions. We tried to make the site as appealing and un-offputting as possible to the non-Christian surfer. The layout is as professional as we could come up with, considering that I am only an amateur web designer. — http://www.elizabethchurchofchrist.org

Primary Author: Bill Aumack