When we create a members section of our church websites we have to make sure it's targeted at the 4 distinct parts of a Christians life. A Christian is part of the body of the church, is a student of Jesus, is part of Gods mission to make disciples, and is ministering to other people. The web technologies are available today for every church to effectively engage all 4 of these areas in a fruitful way. Let's take a look at how we can encompass these aspects in a church website.
The Church Community
A church is a community. 1 Corinthians talks about it as a body. The book of Acts describes the makeup of the early churches community. There is no denying the church is supposed to be a community based around the mission of the church.
Community based websites are now old hat. The tools exist, there are tutorials on how to setup them up, and someone with mild web development experience can build a community site. If you don't have a developer available there are sites like mychurch.org that do it for you.
Community sites enable congregations to communicate and organize around the mission of the church.
Student of Jesus
All Christians are called to be students of Jesus. It's not just a matter of saying we are followers. We need to know his teachings to know what to follow. Thus, we are students.
Web based tools have become an essential part of teaching. When they first came to the Internet they were purely administrative. Over the past several years the tools have become available for entire degrees to be taught online. Bringing elements of this to church websites is not only do-able but can be done in a cost effective manner. This could be a teaching blog, articles about different topics, an online curriculum, material for non-pastor teachers at the church, and even references to outside sites and services who do teaching.
In any case, Christians are supposed to be students. Websites give leadership the opportunity to teach all through the week.
Executing The Mission
Doing the mission of the church is hard. People ask tough questions. When members of the church are talking with others about God resources that help them convey that to others and show others how things are connected and what they mean can provide a great benefit.
For example, I've had conversations where people question how the books of the bible came together. They have herd that Constantine denied certain books from the bible. They have herd that some things were passed on via word of mouth and think about how inaccurately we remember things. Some think the bible has been handed down through history just like any other book. And, they question the validity of scripture. A resource on a church website could provide someone a good foundation to have this conversation and something to share with others.
Ministering To People
The church calls it outreach. Some call it philanthropy. Others refer to it as social action. Christ set the bar high when it came to helping people. It wasn't just people who were afflicted with disease. Christ went to the prostitutes and the drunks. He went to people who lived in sin. He wanted to help everyone no matter how they got there and everyone he could.
The church is called to do this same thing. To help the people we come across. To help the people God gives us an opportunity to help.
Church websites can help us with this. Websites are a great tool for organization. Those group efforts that need to be organized can be done through a website. And, celebrating those efforts can be done through a website.
Part of being in a church community is putting the resources of the church where they are needed. Often we have people who have resources but don't see the need and we have people in need to can't see the resources. Church websites can bring the resources and need together.
The outreach and philanthropic website technologies have come a long way and have been pushed by philanthropic non-profits around the world. The technology is mature and the ideas are easy to implement.
We can see the parts of a Christians life and we have web based technology that complements it and helps Christians life the Christian life. What parts of this are you putting in your church website?
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