Discover how to leverage technology in your church

For many web developers who are moving beyond the basic link and page behavior, the next step is to learn JavaScript, a powerful programming language that runs in your user’s browser to enable your website to change its behavior in response to the user. (While some newer frameworks are making use of server side JavaScript, today’s focus will be on the more traditional client side usage.) 

While JavaScript in its original form is pretty powerful, there are some common frameworks that you can add to get yourself up and running with very minimal programming experience. One of the most common of these is jQuery.

When my family and I went out of town recently, I wanted to look for a church to visit. I immediately went to Google.

Although you could blame it on the fact that I’m a millennial, I am definitely not alone in relying on the internet (not a phone book) to find a place to worship these days.

Before you write just about any document, you have to think of your audience. Who are you writing for? If I send a text to a friend, it’ll be different from a text I send to my parents. Even for a daily, unimportant task like this one, we automatically consider our audience.

The same goes for your church website.

Who do you want to reach with your website? In other words, what is the purpose of your website?

Have you ever felt like your church kills an entire forest printing its weekly bulletins? Liturgy, songs, entire Bible passages, announcements, and all of the prayer requests are added, until the bulletin begins to resemble a beginner’s chapter book.

Using a content management system (CMS) can help condense your bulletin or just expand and update your website. A CMS allows you to distribute frequently updated information, and it makes sure people actually see it. Your visitors can subscribe to this content, which means they will receive instant email notifications when you post new information.

Whenever my parents are expecting visitors, my mom cleans. She cleans the bathroom, the living room, the kitchen, and, when I was a kid, she even asked me to clean my room! My response? “But mooooooom, the guests aren’t going eat dinner in my room!” Mature, I know.

Now that I'm an adult, I get it. I like my house clean too. And, just like your house (or your church), your website should be clean and uncluttered. Luckily, this kind of cleaning doesn’t require Clorox or rubber gloves—just a few quick tips. You can simplify your website in no time!