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Does every article on your website have a "freshness" date?
1.5 years ago Oasis Church launched a website with a "Story Driven" approach.
We decided that stories were what we would feature on our site and that those stories should focus on what was happening in people's lives as they ministered together and to one another. This meant stories about what had happened were just as important as stories about what was going to happen. Church sites generally focus only on the brochure content, transactions, and announcements. We wanted to talk about things.
The approach affected many decisions we made about the site.
We put limits on the site. There are only 12 "landing" pages on the site beyond the home page.
We relied heavily on text at a time when church sites were getting more and more flash-driven.
We put a time stamp on every article to create accountability for the freshness of the content.
The site has lots of usability problems, but the over-all goals were accomplished.
In the past 2 weeks we began to approach the volume of content I felt would be necessary for the site to gain any sort of momentum. If you click through the site you'll see what I mean. Each page features articles that are less than 2 weeks old. This kind of accountability was critical and it has taken us 1.5 years to develop both the intention and the habits of keeping such a site updated.
Frankly, we've only been partially successful. There hasn't been near as much interaction as I had hoped. People still thought of the stories as needing to have some imaginary threshold of significance to get on the site. They missed the beauty of just talking about the things that impressed us and sharing them quickly, concisely, and consistently.
I personally maintain one page. I try to add 3 things each week. I send 125 people an email each week and I always link them back to my page. My audience is fairly small, but my page gets more traffic than all but 2 other pages (excluding the home page).
I doubt this question keeps your pastor awake at night, but if he isn't sure about the answer, he should be up nights sweating it out.
There is a human tendency to create pyramids. Apparently we are impressed with pyramids and think the bigger the pyramid the more important the people are who are involved in the building of the pyramid. As impressive as pyramids may be, they are about death and not about life. The may point toward the heavens, but in reality they trap people on earth.
And the point...
In church life and leadership we must constantly watch for our tendency to build pyramids. God is a farmer not a pharaoh.
What if I told a First Baptist Church published a magazine dedicated to the city in which it lived?
Would you believe that magazine was truly advertising supported? That it was really of interest to people outside the church?
Would you further believe it would allow ads with pictures of toddlers in bikinis and others with sparkling white wine? If you know some First Baptist Churches you'd be a bit shocked.
I'm reading just such a magazine from the city in which I grew up. It is a ministry of the church my dad has partnered with in Brazil for the past 5 years. It's amazingly well done. It's better than the magazines the major airlines put out. The funny little cultural quirks that show in the advertising that are just that. Our own cultural filters don't apply.
Someone somewhere probably has pictures of me in my speedo days as a tot learning to swim. That's just the way it is there. While there aren't any pictures of pregnant ladies, one ad in the magazine assures a pregnant mom can get a great swimsuit.
I love the magazine and I would surely go to the church if I still lived in Sao Jose.
The articles are of political and social events of interest to the community. There are solid interviews and a real taste of the life I would be living if I had stayed in that wonderful industrial town between Sao Paulo and Rio De Janeiro. The magazine has a nice look that is inviting, professional and intimate for those who know the city.
By the way, this church has some of the most happening worship conferences for megachurches in Brazil. That may be a good choice for your staff next year.
