I've been sitting on this information for a little while, because it's a lot to absorb. I'm not saying it's complex, but it's definitely food for thought.

What I'm referring to is Dan Lee's Ministry Funnel (click to view full size):

As a general model, I think it's a good approach and addresses one of the often overlooked steps when it comes to online evangelism: engaging community. This step is important for two reasons:

1. It allows non-believers to ask questions and discuss understandings of faith and Bible passage meanings with believers. Everybody could read a passage and come away with a different understanding, but only through the exchange of these understandings can we work to pull out the intended meaning of the passage. Oftentimes, this can strengthen believers as well!
2. It allows believers to demonstrate their faith by more direct actions than just listing beliefs and proclamations. Usually, non-believers are more willing to see things from our perspectives when we treat them in the loving, Christian manner which we aspire to.

As always, the decision part is out of the evangelists hands, but it's always interesting looking at ways we can help bring them answers and the opportunity for them to come to that point.

So, what's your current approach to web ministry? Are you allowing for visitors to get the information and community they need to make a decision for Jesus? Are there even better models for accomplishing this?

Over the past few years, I've really begun to see myself mature as a developer. It's not that I've learned any new mind-blowing code or languages, but instead in my development process and practices. I've developed an appreciation for well-documented and well-planned code, as well as for security practices.

Most of this maturity has been spawned by actually working with applications and databases that are meant to be used. When previously developing code on my own or for class, it was more along the lines of building a house of cards: I could put it together but it wasn't very stable. The application wasn't reasonably useful for anyone else.

While it may be nice to incorporate new features in our sites, like our faith, it's important to start with a solid foundation. We shoud strive to have websites that validate (or at least display consistently across brosers), catch errors, redirect bad links, and avoid making a visitor say "Uh Oh" or "What do I do now?" Not only that, but we should make them easy to pass on to someone else if the need ever arises.

It's something I can't even say is complete for this site (it's a long process when you can only do it in your spare time), but it's something I'm striving towards. It can be a long and not very exciting process, but in the end it does have it's rewards. Think of it as the "measure twice, cut once" of the programming world. In the end, it will save you a lot of hastles.

For a class that I am currently taking, I was required to read a book called Wired for Ministry by John P. Jewell. While, I admit that I did not read the entire book, I did read enough of it to recommend it to anyone who wants to consider the ramifications of using technology in a ministry setting.

This book helps you to evaluate the different ways that your church is using technology by asking the right questions. Technology can be used to strengthen, encourage, and build up the Body of Christ, or it can tear down relationships through impersonal communication. As far as this relates to your church web site, the information that you post can be sending many messages about the church that you may not realize. For instance, if you post a picture of your church building on the homepage, someone could think that the building is the most important part of your faith. Or if the website is rarely updated, then it could send the message that nothing is going on ever at the church. While these examples may seem silly, they could not be further from the truth. Technology has the potential to do many wonderful things for ministry, but with that potential comes many great dangers. I would like to encourage any church to read Wired for Ministry before begining a website, installing a wireless network in the church, or using powerpoint in a worship service.

I came across this article about E-Ministry Practices on the message board for Great Church Websites today. It does a good job outlining the change in mindset that a church needs to have if they want a successfull website. There are two key points from that article that I wanted to point out:

4. Never "scoop" the Web site.
In the press corps, the term "scoop" refers to publishing a hot news story before a competitor does. In a Web-enabled organization, "scooping" the Web site means making information available through handouts or public announcements that are not already published on the Web site. Churches with a successful e-ministry train their audiences to go to the Web first for the most current information. Scooping the site teaches people that there is really nothing new on the site. For churches, this means try posting new content on Friday, not Monday.

This can be a difficult thing to change, but the impact it will have on your church website will be indescribable. People will begin to view your website as a resource for information, instead of just a presence online.

10. Do your best, then post it.
Unlike the physical print world – errors and omissions on Web site content can be fixed easily and inexpensively. Revisions can easily be added after the preliminary copy has been posted. Many content providers get bogged down trying to provide "perfect" content for the Web, and end up providing nothing by the launch date. This leads to the dreaded "under construction" pages. Successful content providers understand that it's better to post something, and edit it later, than to post nothing at all.

One of the beautiful things about the internet is that anything on it can go back and be fixed. So if you do make a mistake, don't agonize over it. And don't be afraid to make them in the first place!

Be sure to check out the full article for other great tips!

In the third part of a series on website content, we will discuss questions that arrise based from the premise "If Jesus Had A Website..." in order to better analyze approaches and expectations of church website content.

However, just because a level of equality has been reached, it doesn't mean both men and women should be treated the same. In an interesting article from CBN, David Morrow takes a look at Why Men Hate Church.

While this article may not apply to your church situation directly, it is important to note that we can rarely expect to reach both a male and female base through a single message. Now, I'm not advocating the creation of a "Men's Site" and a "Women's Site", but I am cautioning against creating a site that is too male or female oriented if it is a site directed at both genders (yes, . If you are the sole person in charge of the content on your church's website, be sure to step outside of your writing comfort zone from time to time and try something from another perspective. Maybe take a different approach to what may seem like traditional topics. Or try covering a broader spectrum of topics, even if they are of little interest to you personally.

As Paul instructed us to be all things to all men, you should try to reach as broad a variety of people as possible.
Take that step outside of your comfort zone, and you may find that you can reach others more effectively.

Do you remember school dances when you were younger? There were the kids who danced together out on the dance floor, and there were the wallflowers who watched them dance.

"Ok. Thanks Greg for bringing back good/bad images of my childhood, but what's the point?"

The point is that church websites can be very similar to websites at this continuous dance called "the internet". You may have seen this article in the column to the right from ChristianPost.com, but I thought this it was a particularly interesting read that needed to be hilighted:

Study Shows Churches Not Making Full Use of the Power of the Internet

Take a minute to read over that, because it brings up several good points that every church needs to consider:

1. Is your church a wallflower or a dancer? Does your website just sit on the side and hope someone will ask it to dance? Or is it the one on the dancefloor getting involved with people? The difference between an online site and an online community is vast.
   
2. If your church website is a wallflower, can it even dance? If your website is simply an online site, is there any way for visitors to interact with church members through, at the very least, e-mail? If not, it may be time to seriously re-evaluate the focus of your website.
3. How can our church website learn to dance, or even get better at dancing? What features can we add to our website that will get people more involved with it?
   

One question we, as church webmasters, constantly need to be asking ourselves is "Does our website accurately reflect who we are as a church?". For example, if we have a rustic and historic church, we probably don't want our site to have too modern of a feel. The website should be an extention of the church itself, and not a seperate entity.

One thing you can do to help this continuity is to create a similar visual front. One thing I like to do when designing a site is to take my color palette from the decor of the church. While this may not always work for all churches, it can often be a good starting point. Another idea is to try and feature a distinctive attribute of your church, maybe a special cross, spire, door or window, on the website.

A second thing that can be done to improve continuity between these two presences is to try to match up the personality of your site with that of your church. If the way your church website comes across is not reflective on your church, then you aren't really doing your church a service. For example, if someone comes across your website, which has a very relaxed presentation, and someone comes to your church, which has a very formal presentation, they may feel deceived when they did not find what they expected. So, in order to best represent your church, make sure you present an accurate depiction of your church.

The overall atmosphere of your church website is a very important thing to keep in mind as your site grows and progresses. Make sure that your site is a true representation of your church in all aspects. This will not only make the approach to maintaining the site easier, but it will make it a more effective tool for your church.