Out of Date

Have you ever left a carton of milk in the fridge for a while, and then one day you go to enjoy a big bowl of your favorite cereal when you see that the milk is well past expired?

We've all done it before...and we've all gone ahead and chucked that carton and run out to the store to get some new milk. What we found was no good, so we had to go in search of what we wanted somewhere else.

We can apply this same train of thought to the events on church websites. It's great when they're fresh, but once they expire nobody wants to be near them.

I've heard it said before that it's better to have no specific dates on a church website at all than to have dates that have long passed, and I completely agree. The reason for this is simple: old dates give the impression that a church is inactive. If a church isn't doing anything, then why would anyone be interested in attending.

Now, your church may be thriving and alive with fellowship and outreach, but if the dates on your site do not reflect that, then it looks bad for the church. From the point of view of the average web surfer, the church might as well not exist because it looks dead. Instead, we would prefer that the website reflects the activity, and not have the website reflect inactivity.

So, never underestimate the importance of your role as a datekeeper for your church's website. Your work is an important reflection of the role of the church in people's lives and in the community. This is extremely important when it comes to attracting new parishoners and believers, and if they don't find it in your site they'll either find it elsewhere or stop looking at all. After all, who wants to go to a church that doesn't seem to be doing anything?