Last week, I wrote about the first step of stategic planning for churches—implementing a program review process at your church. With that step in hand, you can now set the future in motion through visioning.
Strategic planning is important for every organization, whether it’s business, a group, or a church. As a church leader, you are responsible for looking at the larger picture to decide what will be of most benefit to your congregation—unless your church has unlimited resources, of course!
The first step? Implementing a program review process at your church. Here’s how to get started:
My guess is that this happens every year. Some well-meaning person comes up to you after the Christmas Eve service and says "Isn’t it exciting to see so our church so full? Wouldn't it be great if we could get them to all come back next week?"
If no one has ever said that to you, I’m sure you’ve at least had that same thought. I know I have!
Sometimes it’s really easy to get worked up about the number of people who worship at your congregation. Our culture defines success by numbers. When large numbers of visitors attend worship, we think that means we must be successful as a congregation, and our thoughts naturally turn to how we can keep them coming back.
Have you ever converted anyone with your church website?
To be clear, I’m not talking about a digital altar call or anything like. I know the Holy Spirit can bring believers to faith through a variety of means, including websites, but that’s not the type of conversion I mean.
In the marketing industry, a conversion is when a website visitor takes an action that leads to a business result. This could be an initial action, like adding an item to a shopping cart, or a final conversion, such as a completing a purchase.
Topics:
Strategy
What if you went to Walmart’s website and couldn’t find any of their products or store locations? How would you buy your detergent, baby carrots, and hedge clippers all in one place?
The same goes for your church website. Think about what a visitor needs to know and would be searching for about your church. Is she going to want to know what you believe, where you're located, and what time your services start? Probably.
There are some basic components that every church—big, small, or in between—should include. Whether you are just getting started, fine-tuning, or completely revamping a site, these key basics should be included or added to every site.
Awkward situations are... well... awkward. Nobody likes these moments, whether it's watching someone show up late or hearing a person call someone else by the wrong name. These situations become even more awkward when you're directly involved and become almost unbearable when you're experiencing them alone.
