All three matter, but online will be your door into the lives of more people, the most critical factor in reaching new constituencies.
A solid Web site, for starters, will enable prospective constituents to discover you the same way they discover other new dimensions of their lives. They can read about you, imagine how you would respond to their needs, take the measure of your depth and openness, and get specific information without needing to call or visit.
The key is being “solid.”
If your Web site is all about you — your pastor, your facilities, or what I call a “provider-driven” Web site — you will not connect with the prospect. But if you speak to their needs — through what I call a “customer-driven” site — you will connect.
If your site offers only one option — Sunday worship — you will miss the majority who want to engage with a faith community in other ways. A better resonse is to suggest multiple possibilities — worship, study, online reading, helping in mission, watching a sermon online.
An online encounter is inherently private; that’s one reason many prefer to explore online. But you can take it to a next level by offering a free newsletter or a free booklet. That will get their e-mail address onto your list.
Similarly, you can offer a survey online — tell us what you think about Topic A (something important in your community). Most content management systems enable you to offer surveys and polls.
Once you have a prospect’s e-mail address, you can send a personal greeting, the weekly e-letter, and any special announcements that a prospect might want to receive, just don’t overwhelm them.
Older and established members might not see the importance of online engagement. They don’t value it themselves. Their history is personal encounters on-site. But anyone under the age of, say, 50 will prefer online as a door opener. It’s how they do everything else.
Opening a door means more than convincing a prospect to attend Sunday morning worship. Part of Multichannel Church is letting go of that expectation. Some who encounter you online will never come to Sunday worship, but they will think of you as their faith community and value your serving them.
That means your Web site needs to have substantial content — brief essays that members have written about faith experiences, for example, or insights from a mission trip, the pastor’s exploration of a new theme in preaching, emerging thoughts about a new ministry, art work by members, music that constituents like and/or have performed — content that can feed their faith, not just convince them you’re wonderful.
Remember, your Web site reaches a global audience. It isn’t just a way to catch the attention of someone who might have missed your church sign at 45 mph. A Web presence is an entirely new way to interact with people, both neighbors in your community and a vast audience who are hungry for faith.
Your goal, therefore, isn’t to convert online visitors into Sunday on-site attendees. Your goal is to meet them online, to engage them there, to interact with them there, and to draw them closer to God by those interactions.
