On this
page I'll share with you everything I've learned as the
pastor of The First
International Church Of The Web. Of course, I'm still
learning as well, so if you know of anything that should be
added to this page, send it to me, and I'll be happy to add
it, and, of course, give you credit for the contribution.
Please share your knowledge with
others, and together, we can make this a complete guide to
starting and maintaining a web-based church. Okay, that
said, let's jump right in.
First, you'll need
to be ordained. Fortunately, this is a free service offered
by The First International Church Of
The Web - See our
website for full details. You can also choose other
non-traditional ordination services, such as World
Christianship Ministries (for more on "Ordination Ministries" such as World Christianship, visit our Online Ordination Frequently Asked Questions Page). However you choose to be
ordained is up to you, but I do recommend it as the first
step. Also, since you'll be starting a Christian church,
it's important that your ordination credential comes from a
Christian organization. Of course, you may already be an
ordained minister, in which case you're ready to go on to
the next step.
Choose A Name
For Your Church
This may seem pretty obvious,
but it's worth mentioning. After all, your church will be
known by the name you choose for it. The name should be a
reflection both of you, as the pastor, and the type of
ministry it will be. Since your church will be on the
internet, you may wish to include some word as an indicator
of that - for instance, Internet, Web, Virtual, Online,
etc.
Build Your
Website
If you're just starting out, you may
wish to start your church on one of the free website
providers available on the internet. A few of these are GeoCities, Tripod, and Angelfire. These all provide
free websites, and usually offer turorials on things like
HTML, web page design, etc. Personally, I'd recommend Tripod, but they're all good services.
Here are a few basic
tips on webpage design. First, the primary rule of thumb
when designing a web page is "Keep It Simple". Too many
"bells and whistles" may be fun to add, but they make the
page slower to load, and are also very distracting to a lot
of people. Too many graphics can also really slow down a
page. Remember, the internet's a pretty fast paced place,
and if your page takes too long to load, visitors will
simply skip on to the next, faster website. Other pitfalls
to avoid include having a background that is too "busy" and
makes the text hard to read, text that is too small, text
that doesn't contrast enough with the background and
"bleeds" into the background, and MIDI (music) files that
take a long time to load and may actually be annoying to
your visitors when set to run automatically. Remember, you want your church to be a
friendly place that's quick to load, with text that's easy
to read, and is easy to navigate. The best advise is to
experiment with different things, find out what works best
for your site, and avoid everything
else. For a more complete lesson on website design in simple, easy to understand language, read our lesson The Saint Luke Course On Christian Website Design.
What To Offer On Your
Church Website
Again, this is a matter of
personal preference, but here are a few features most
church websites like to have. Most importantly, your
visitors should be able to reach someone for counseling and
witnessing. I recommend posting an e-mail link either to
you, the pastor, or to members of your church who are
qualified to counsel others and are willing to spend time
doing so. Other features to offer include a prayer request
page, a testimonial page, a BBS (Bulletin Board System) for
threaded discussions, and maybe even a chat room. All of
these features will attract visitors to your church,
encourage participation by the membership, and offer
opportunities to minister to others.
You
may ask, "Why should I get an Independent Church Charter
for my church?" There are many good reasons for doing so.
An Independent Church Charter gives your church the same
legal status and rights as any other church. With an
Independent Church Charter, you can legally ordain
ministers, issue Honorary Dr. of Divinity certificates, and
even start issuing Independent Church Charters yourself.
These are all important activities for any church. You
can order an Independent Church Charter from our catalog page at www.ficotw.org/catalog.htm for a nominal contribution. See our catalog for full details.
Join The International Alliance Of Web-Based
Churches The International Alliance Of
Web-Based Churches is an association of churches founded on
the internet. Joining will help attract visitors to your
church, and put you in contact with other ministers of
web-based churches. Membership is free. For more
information Visit the Alliance
Webpage Membership As a church, you'll want
people to join and take part in your ministry. It is up to
you to decide what requirements to have for membership. You
should post these requirements on a page on your website,
along with a link to your e-mail. Each request for
membership should be prayerfully considered under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit. Occasionally you may receive
requests for membership from folks who you know in your
heart are not sincere. These people should be ministered
to, but you should try and avoid granting membership to
anyone who seems insincere or simply trying to make
trouble. Again, this is entirely up to you as the pastor of
your church. Publicize Your
Church Okay, you've done everything outlined
here. Now you're ready to tell the world about your new
church. There are many ways to do this. First, you should
submit your site to as many search engines as possible.
This may take some time, but it's the best way to make your
presence known on the internet. Also, visit other Christian
websites and request a link to your church. Go into
Christian chat rooms and invite people to visit your
church. Place ads in the various free classified
advertisement services available on the internet. Visit
Christian newsgroups and post a link to your website - but
DON'T SPAM! (Spamming is sending out thousands of
announcements via e-mail mailing lists or posting the same
message on dozens or even hundreds of newsgroups. Spamming
is wrong, and can get you terminated by your Internet
Service Provider.) In short, tell everybody you can about
your new church, and you'll start getting plenty of
visitors building your ministry. Conclusion That's all there is to it!
Hopefully, this page has helped you in your desire to build
a church on the internet. You may even have more tips and
suggestions for building a web-based church. If so, send
them to me, and I'll be happy to add them. Now, the rest is
up to you. I'm confident that if you sincerely desire to
have a web-based ministry, and are willing to work at it,
Our Lord will bless you with a dynamic and exciting
ministry. God bless you and your new ministry!
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International Church Of The Web
copyright 1997-2022 Rev. Dr. David McMichael Ford
stlukeministries@gmail.com