While some in the Christian community have declared an all-out war on media tools, many Christian churches and organizations utilize many widely available tools to reach more people, ease planning & enhance communication, all for the Glory of God.
If you are in any way involved in the ministry of the local church or a non-profit organization, you will realise that a great website and social media presence can serve as a great blessing.
Over the next couple of weeks, I will be writing a blog about each media tool separately; until then, here is a short version and explanation of a website and social media.
1. A Church Website: Whether you agree or not, the church website is today’s “Front Door” to your church. Most people will check your website out, before they come to your church, or support your organization. With that in mind, here are some suggestions:
a. If you are not ready to invest heavily into a church website, at least create a free “blog” through WordPress or Blogger, and upload basic UP-TO-DATE church information, like address, contact info, & church service times. Blogs are heavily valued by search engines, and will come up near the top, if your church name is searched. If you are willing to pay at least $30.00 (USD) a year, you can make your blog url to be personalized; for example – I blog using WordPress and blogger.com.
1. A Church Website: Whether you agree or not, the church website is today’s “Front Door” to your church. Most people will check your website out, before they come to your church, or support your organization. With that in mind, here are some suggestions:
a. If you are not ready to invest heavily into a church website, at least create a free “blog” through WordPress or Blogger, and upload basic UP-TO-DATE church information, like address, contact info, & church service times. Blogs are heavily valued by search engines, and will come up near the top, if your church name is searched. If you are willing to pay at least $30.00 (USD) a year, you can make your blog url to be personalized; for example – I blog using WordPress and blogger.com.
If I would not be willing to pay, my blog web address would be pridesibiya.blogspot.com But, for the brand Apostle Pride Sibiya we were able to purchase a domain, and the blog address is simply www.pridesibiya.com. Both of these domains will lead to the same location on the web.
Also, Click and Check:
1. Apostle Pride Sibiya - www.pridesibiya.com
2. Oudney Patsika - www.oudneypatsika.com
3. Prophet Brian Mundopa - www.brianmundopa.com
4. Tapiwa Zuze - www.tapiwazuze.com
5. Derick Matsengarwodzi - www.tinzwei.com
6. Glory Ministries - www.glorymin.net
A great website can be run on an annual budget of $300 (USD) and this includes the domain, basic maintenance etc.
b. Great websites can include such things as a calendar, the ability to live stream church services, an archive of videos of past sermons, news, pictures, an About section, and links to connect to church’s social media pages - Some of these extra services will require an extra budget.
c. Most churches don’t store the actual “videos” on their church websites. Typically, those videos are on a different website, and links are just placed on the website. The two big video locations are YouTube and Vimeo. We highly recommend using Vimeo for churches. Though YouTube videos can get more views, the ads played before a video starts are often inappropriate, and, when the YouTube video ends, YouTube displayes images of other videos that they suggest, and often, those images are also very inappropriate.
If you utilize Social Media, it will be your biggest driver of traffic to your church website. Millions of people are on Social Media, daily. Your most faithful members will not visit your church website, unless they are reminded of new content through a social media post.
Though there are many social media sites, there are tools that can allow you to interconnect them. A post on Facebook can directly be reposted to Twitter. Social Media phone apps allow for fast and easy abilities to post from anywhere, anytime. Facebook groups can be a great communication tool between ministry leaders. Google Hangouts can be utilized for small groups or leadership meetings.
Churches can also utilize advertisements through social media.