In RW 129 I began a response to the following question:
Q
Our church is redesigning its website and asked for our worship team’s help with including materials related to worship. What advice does RW have?
A
The first part of my answer dealt with understanding your context when expressing hospitality, paying attention to universal design, and suggesting ideas for communicating worship’s deep meaning and purpose. In this second part I will address online giving and the identification of church leaders.
Online Giving
Most churches have a section on their websites for online giving. Some are purely functional, making it easy for members to give. Only a few use this section of their site to briefly outline their key convictions about money—a rare opportunity to frame your community’s values and address unspoken concerns or anxiety that many people have about churches and money. Try writing pithy sentences that convey your vision:
“We embrace financial accountability, and we love the challenge of prayerfully discerning the very best ways our financial resources can bless the world God loves.”
“Giving is life-giving. Through generosity, we learn the joy of being freed from self-centeredness.”
“Our offering in worship is a beautiful symbol of the different ways we give. Giving here online echoes what we do in worship just like our prayers all week long echo Sunday’s songs.”
What other values about money, stewardship, and generosity would you want your community (including your children) to know about?
Leaders
Most church sites have information about the congregation’s leaders. Some sites communicate, “We are a pastor-centered church.” Others make it almost impossible to learn anything about individual church leaders. Look for models of a middle way—sites eager to convey the multiple voices and roles in a congregation without hiding information about key church leaders.
Some traditions emphasize their leaders’ training or credentials; others emphasize their accessibility or personality. Either can be done well, and cultural context matters a lot in discerning what is best. But here too, an eagerness to communicate accessibility can undermine a congregation’s mission. Some leaders’ biographical statements unwittingly convey messages like these: “Pastor X is hip and fun. She promises to stay at a superficial level in every conversation with you,” or, “Pastor Y went to school for years and is likely to be nearly incomprehensible.” Asking for feedback from a few trustworthy voices can help you avoid these missteps.
One promising strategy is for leaders to convey their deep convictions and hopes about worship: “As a musical leader, I hope that every week worshipers will not just listen to our songs, but pray deeply through them,” or, “As a pastor, I pray that every worshiper will discover how much God loves each of us and be stretched to grow spiritually.” Try the language of testimony instead of mere description.
In might seem a bit overwhelming to rethink everything about your site at once. But consider reviewing one section of your website per month. Even better than a one-time redesign is a realistic, sustainable practice of ongoing revisions and a commitment to always be ready to adapt, learn, and grow—not only as we learn about technical ways to improve sites, but also as we refine pastoral wisdom for shaping vital worshiping communities.