{"id":817397,"date":"2023-12-05T05:00:37","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T11:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=817397"},"modified":"2024-05-27T12:40:59","modified_gmt":"2024-05-27T17:40:59","slug":"8-things-i-would-look-for-on-a-church-website-if-i-were-looking-for-a-church-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/8-things-i-would-look-for-on-a-church-website-if-i-were-looking-for-a-church-home\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Things I Would Look for on a Church Website If I Were Looking for a Church Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m not looking for a new church home. We love our pastors and the church\u2019s vision, and we have no intention of going elsewhere. At the same time, though, I\u2019m often in correspondence with people who <\/span>are <\/span><\/i>looking for a new church. They most often turn to the website to determine whether to visit a church, even when someone has invited them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, here are some things I would look for on a website if I were looking for a church home. Assuming the basics (e.g., church name, location, service times, etc.) are present, I\u2019d also look for:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n
      \n
    1. A doctrinal statement.<\/b> I freely admit this issue may mean more to me as a seminary professor than to others, but I know a number of laypersons who would look for the same. A website that includes no doctrinal statement still speaks by its silence\u2014saying at best that nobody was thinking about theology when they put the site together.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. A church history.<\/b> The history need not be a long account, but I would want to know how and when the church started. I would also want to know how many pastors the church has had, especially if every recent pastorate didn\u2019t last long. Consecutive short pastorates usually tell us something about the church.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. Congregational pictures.<\/b> I want to \u201csee\u201d the church before going there. Done well, pictures show potential guests the demographics of the church. Just be sure to indicate in some way that the pictures are not just stock pictures; they\u2019re pictures of current members.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. Conversion stories.<\/b> Few churches include this suggestion, but I\u2019d want to know that God is transforming lives through the church. Brief (2-3 minutes), well-done, recorded testimonies from church members under a heading of something like, \u201cStories of God\u2019s Life-changing Power at _______ Church,\u201d will unquestionably grab my attention.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    5. Missions stories.<\/b> Again, I realize a professor of evangelism and missions who also works for a missions agency would want this inclusion. Nevertheless, the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20) is not optional for any church\u2014and accounts of the church\u2019s work to reach the nations would help me better understand the church\u2019s focus. Here\u2019s another case, too, where recorded testimonies would be good.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    6. Service recordings.<\/b> I\u2019m not alone in wanting to know the music and preaching styles of a church I might attend. Both really do matter. Poor worship music and\/or problematic preaching would be at least a \u201ccaution flag\u201d to me. Recordings cannot adequately take us into the service itself, but they can give us some sense of the church.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    7. Pastor and family story.<\/b> Even in a church with a plurality of elders, someone is usually the lead person. Knowing who that person is, what his story is, and what his vision for the church is would help me make a decision about attending. It would also give me the opportunity to pray for that pastor, whether or not I visit the church.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    8. Online giving options.<\/b> Having these options available tells me something about the church\u2019s willingness to use technology as they do the Great Commission.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      I\u2019m sure there are other things to include in a church\u2019s website. What would you add to this list? <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019m not looking for a new church home. We love our pastors and the church\u2019s vision, and we have no intention of going elsewhere. At the same time, though, I\u2019m often in correspondence with people who are looking for a new church. They most often turn to the website to determine whether to visit a…","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":817401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[193,1,183,179,175,177,14796],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-817397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administration-and-finance","category-church-answers","category-communications","category-first-impressions","category-grow","category-lead","category-monday-wednesday-featured"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n8 Things I Would Look for on a Church Website If I Were Looking for a Church Home | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I\u2019m not looking for a new church home. 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