Marketing-Church

Dissertation (AT304) Stephen Greer

!!!!!!!Marketing Church An examination of the use of a church’s website in relationship to marketing. !!!!!Stephen Greer

!Dissertation (AT304)

Steven Singleton

!!(8252 words) !29th April 2014

!!

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Table Of Contents Introduction 4

Website Branding & Design 5

Introduction 5

Negative Effects of Marketing Church 5

Designing A Brand 6

Website Content 11

Introduction 11

Persona 1 – New Visitor 12

Persona 2 – Regular Attender 16

Persona 3 – Engaged Member 17

Persona 4 – Mature Disciple 19

Assessment Criteria For A Church’s Web Presence 21

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Website Evaluation 1 22

Website Content 22

Website Design 25

Website Evaluation 2 28

Website Content 28

Website Design 31

Conclusion 33

Bibliography 34

Appendixes 36

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Introduction This dissertation will examine a church’s use of the internet, specifically their web

presence, to missionally engage with people in a digital culture. A range of criteria to

evaluate a church’s web presence will be formulated from both a design and theological

perspective. This will be done by considering two main ideas: a church website’s

branding and design and the content available on the site. Following the formulation

of this criteria, this dissertation will examine two church websites in an Irish context

and make recommendations on how their web presence can be improved.

One of the issues surrounding this topic is the ethics behind branding faith, especially

in the context of a consumerist society (Jethani, 2009, p.62). Due to the brevity of this

dissertation, these ideas cannot be unpacked fully. The dissertation largely assumes

that churches have considered these issues and decided to market and promote their

mission using the internet.

For a church to be missional in its approach, it must be aware of and engage with the

cultural context of the people it desires to communicate with. Otherwise, there is a

danger of a church’s message becoming irrelevant and inapplicable. This is a New

Testament principle with the Apostle Paul even referencing it in his first letter to the

Corinthians (1 Cor. 9:19-23). This principle is one that should be used by a church

when considering digital culture as to make its message relevant to the people is seeks

to communicate with.

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Website Branding & Design Introduction

As societies develop and culture changes, a church must consider how it should

respond to these changes and evaluate how its mission fits into that development.

Forms of communication, in recent times, have experienced massive amounts of

change, mainly due to the rise of the internet and technology advancements. This

should leave a church asking questions about their communication strategy and if they

want to embrace these technological advancements or ignore them. The negative

effects of modern technology and marketing church are also something that a church

should consider when thinking about these concepts.

Negative Effects of Marketing Church

As technology and forms of communication develop, the negative effects of these

advancements are something that a church needs to consider. With branding and

marketing, there comes great responsibility as an organisation can present any

message it wants as the truth. Often the very nature of marketing is exploitative and it

can manipulate and persuade people to take actions they were not already intending to

take (Yates, 2001, p.35). This is the driving motivation behind most forms of

marketing and can be seen, rather explicitly, in the marketing of consumer products.

The goal, in western consumer culture, is to convince the customer that they need a

product when, in fact, they may not. Cooke (2012, p.180) comments, “From what I call

the “pornographication” of our culture through the sexualizing of nearly everything,

to the loss of community, digital technology has implications that we have yet to fully

understand.”

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An integral part of the church’s existence is community life. Connection and fellowship

with other believers is a major part of a church’s story and brand. However, as

churches use new forms of communication to form these connections, the depth and

intimacy of connection can be compromised. Hipps (2005, p.112) observes that a

church’s use of electronic media to connect and engage people can lead those people to

believe that this is genuine intimacy. “This can cause them to miss out on authentic

community with the people they worship with each week.” (Hipps, 2005, p.112)

Another danger that church marketing can present is the desire to attract people at

the cost of compromising biblical values. “Church marketers overlook that Jesus, in

being faithful to his calling, also drove people away. Some of Jesus’ most radical and

disturbing teachings were given at junctures when crowds were the

largest.” (Kenneson and Street, 1997, p.80) The apostle Paul makes it quite clear that

the gospel is something that will be a stumbling block to some people and seem like

foolish to others. (1 Cor. 1:23) When a church’s brand is presented through marketing,

it should be done in a way that retains the integrity of the Christian message. This

Christian message will not be popular with everyone and no amount of marketing can

change that.

Designing A Brand

Despite the negative effects of church marketing, a church should still consider

engaging with some methods of branding and marketing. The way the Christian

message is communicated must be adapted to the culture of the people the message is

for. This is a principle that has existed since New Testament times.

Bourgeois (2013, introduction) comments, “The Internet is the greatest

communication tool ever invented by humans. It is the most rapidly adopted

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communication technology of all time, available to over two billion people at the time

of this writing.” With this rise of the internet through the 1990s and especially the

2000s, churches need to assess how they are responding to it and if they are engaging

with these new opportunities to communicate. For a lot of churches their response

requires a change of method and even mission. To engage with people in a particular

community, the church must first engage with the culture they are a part of. In

modern consumer culture, the internet has a major role and should not be overlooked

when developing a mission strategy. Hipps (2009, p.24) argues, “The forms of

Christianity must change as people change — if they didn’t we’d all have to learn

Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic in order to read the Bible.” At one stage a vernacular copy

of the Bible was a new form of communication and people had to learn to use and

embrace it. This was made possible by advancement in technology, the printing press.

For a church to engage with people using these new forms of communication, they

must begin to build and develop a web presence. This web presence may include

different elements like, a website, social media accounts, mobile and tablet

applications or media and content streaming services. This web presence can then be

used to connect with people and advance the mission of the church. Hipps (2009, p.

25) argues that media are merely tools and that they are neither bad nor good. They

are “simply neutral conduits or pipelines to channel information” (Hipps, 2009, p.25).

That, however is Hipps' opinion and while he makes a good point about the internet

being a pipeline to channel information, some would argue that no form of

communication is neutral. Berlo (2014), in his model of communication, observes that

a message, when communicated, is effected by a large number of variables. This would

include how the message is presented and attributes concerning the listener who

receives it. Marketing changes the message. In consumer culture, it is products that

are marketed, so if a church is not careful it can make the Christian message into

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another product to be consumed (Wigg-Stevenson, 2009, p.22). This is not a reason to

resist marketing, but it is something that should be considered by a church during the

design and marketing process.

As has been stated, this dissertation will specifically look at churches and their web

presence. However, if a church decides to engage with modern culture through

intentional marketing, it must be noted that a church's web presence is part of a

bigger concept, their brand. Websites and web tools are tools used to communicate the

brand. This idea of branding must be considered in order to accurately access a church’s

web presence.

“At its core, branding is simply the art of surrounding a product, organization or

person with a powerful and compelling story.” (Cooke, 2012, p.46) A church has a

story to tell and most churches, through their missional values, place a major

emphasis on telling that story to others. Much of that desire to share the story comes

from the life and teaching of Jesus. The ‘great commission’ (Matt. 28:18-20) is one of

Jesus’ most notable commands conveying the kingdom’s missional values and one that

should be applied and carried on in the digital age.

A more simplistic, and often helpful way of explaining a brand is, what other people

think of an organisation. What do the people in a church’s neighbourhood or town

think of, when they think of that church? This is a valuable question to ask and one

that drives branding and marketing. A brand is a message told through a range of

mediums. This brand is presented as good news and it survives on the goodness it can

offer to someone. But for a brand to grow, it must interact with people’s lives. One

reason why church or ministry brands do not grow past their immediate size is

because they fail to connect with people outside their immediate influence. The only

way they can share their story and the goodness it contains is if connection is forged

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with new people (Cooke, 2012, pp.139–140). A church’s brand is the public display of

its story. This is communicated in many ways including the lives of its members, print

media, social media and its website.

As the church is now trying to engage a “design-driven generation” (Cooke, 2012, p.

170), the importance of quality design in portraying the brand is greater than ever. In

the past, the content of the church’s message has been the most important thing in its

faith expressions but, due to this shift to a design-driven generation, the form of

communication has become a critical key to connecting with the public.

A church’s website is a major part of that key which will communicate with a design-

driven generation. However, to do this it must employ more than just creative content.

It must speak the same design language as the generation it wants to engage and as a

result, it is becoming more and more important for a church to invest in the visual

design and layout of their websites. Cooke (2012, p.173) states, “Better design isn’t

just decoration; it’s connection.” As technology and design trends advance, so to do the

expectations of church website users. They are continually presented with information

that moves them emotionally through design and if a church’s message does not

employ similar techniques it will get lost in the crowd. Users want a website that is

creatively designed to be easy and entertaining to navigate, feature video and

interactive media, and the ability to work across devices. Their experience needs to be

more that just viewing a site, but engaging with the church through it. There is even a

subconscious expectation from the user for a relationship or connection to be formed

with the church community through the website (Bourgeois, 2013, introduction).

One of the most important areas in developing a church or ministry’s brand is, having

design unity across all if the organisation’s media outputs. “Brand unity helps make

sure the message hits the target by telling the same brand story throughout any touch

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point your audience might encounter” (Cooke, 2012, p.176). All of the church’s media

outputs should have a similar design theme or style and use similar elements like logos

and typefaces. It is this continuity that enables the church’s design branding to be

instantly recognised and it will contribute to the overall strength of the brand.

Looking beyond the church, major brands like Nike, Starbucks and Apple computers all

have one thing in common, their branding material, whether it be print

advertisements, television commercials or their websites, all have a common look or

style (Cooke, 2012, p.25). The same principle applies for a church’s brand.

In regard to the church’s website, design continuity is very important. The church’s

website is an open window for most prospective church attenders into what the church

is like and whether or not it is somewhere they could see themselves. Thus, a church’s

website design should be a digital reflection of church life. If a church is relatively

traditional in its style, yet has a website which is at the cutting edge of design and

aimed towards a different target audience than the church services, then there is a real

disconnect and little brand unity. The integrity, in a church context, of branding and

marketing becomes increasingly important (Thielen, 2011, p.25).

A professionally designed website will also communicate a lot about the values of the

church. Users will see that the church really values people and engaging with new

communication methods, if they are prepared to invest resources in the website

design.

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Website Content Introduction

If a church decides that they are going use modern forms of communication to engage

people, they must also consider the content to be used on their website and social

media during the development of its brand and marketing strategies. When

developing and building content for a church website, it should be remembered that a

church’s online presence is a reflection of what church life is really like and the values

and principles used within the church should be presented through the design.

On of the key questions that should drive the creation and layout of content on a

church’s website is, what does the church want to communicate to people who use the

site? (Hendricks et al., 2014, chapter 8) The goal for successful content is to engage the

user. For this to happen their must be some form of response from that person when

using the site. The question then is, what does the church want this response to be? To

answer this question, the website’s audience must first be considered.

A number of professionals refer to this action or engagement from the user as, ‘a call

to action’ (Hendricks et al., 2014, chapter 8). Some of these ‘calls to actions’ are easier

get a user to follow through on than others. This often depends on both the type of

user and the level of commitment required to carry out the action. Getting a user to fill

out a basic information request form is relatively easy. Persuading the user to actually

come and visit one of the church’s services is a task which requires much more

commitment and is more difficult to achieve. The relative difficulty of each task should

be reflected in the content of the site.

Monk Development (2013, p.2) have put together a comprehensive report concerning

church website content, that was produced following research carried out on over 50

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churches in the United States during 2009-2012. They surveyed churches that were

both large and small, spanning social and economic divides. One of the things that

they noted throughout their report was that, the people using a church’s website were

all at different stages in their spiritual journey and subsequently sought different

things from the website. In light of that, a church needs to think about what content

different users are looking for and develop a strategy that facilitates this.

Monk Development (2013, p.2) put together four different personas for the people

who use church websites. They were, the new visitor, the return visitor, the engaged

member, and mature disciple. This is called ‘The Mission Process Design’ and the

idea is that, through engagement with a church’s online presence and involvement

in church life, the person would progress through the different stages of the process

and ultimately reach the last step, a mature disciple. Due to the emphasis that the

‘mission process design’ puts of involvement in community, to work effectively it

must be incorporated into every aspect of church leadership and ministry. The more

a church can facilitate specific connections to the community through their website,

the more successful their site will be (Monk Development, 2013, p.16).

In light of the mission process design, what each of these personas are looking for in

a church website will be examined in some detail and conclusions applied to how a

church or ministry website can be accessed for their effectiveness.

Persona 1 – New Visitor

The new visitor is someone who has either never been to the church before or has

attended occasionally for under six months. They are either someone who has not yet

come to faith, or they have moved into the area and are looking for a new church. For

must people a church’s website is their first impression of the church and first

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impressions matter. “First impressions are no longer physical but virtual. Before

someone pulls into your parking lot or shakes a greeters hand at the front doors,

visitors have already visited the church online.” (Adams et al., 2014, chapter 7)

For the new visitor, one of the most important things about a church's website is the

ability to find it. Search engines, such as Google, Yahoo or Bing, are the main tools

people will use to find a church’s site. Through their research, Monk Development

(2013, p.5) found:

“the number of people who found out about their church website using a

search engine increased 91% from 2009 to 2012. With the drastic increase in

search engine dependence of internet users, this statistic shows the

importance of a church website optimized for search. The results will speak for

themselves: the more people are able to find your site through search, the

greater the chances they’ll come to visit you on the weekends.”

Of the 50 churches that Monk Development (2013, p.5) analysed, search engine

referrals in 2009 made up just 25 percent of the overall referrals to their website,

compared to 40 percent in 2010. This is a significant growth in the number of people

using search engines to find the church’s website. This trend continued and in 2012

saw 52.5 percent of website referrals coming from search engines. Furthermore, 90%

of people who use search engines never look beyond the first page of results. It is

important that a church’s website is featured on the first page of results for the

relevant search term. “If New Visitors cannot find your site through regular search

engines, there is compelling evidence to suggest they will not visit your

church.” (Monk Development, 2013, p.7) In conclusion, search engine optimisation is

important for church websites and specifically to the ‘new visitor’ persona.

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Monk Development (2013, p.8) suggests that new visitors are looking for two main

things; how to get to the church, and what to expect when they get there.

In response to the first question about how to get to the church, the user is looking for

clear and illustrated directions. These directions must be easy to find on the site and

the use of an embedded Google map would greatly improve usability.

The other question of what to expect when they get there is also very important. Most

people like to know what they are getting into before they commit to something and

attending church for the first time is now different. People are going to want to know

things like what the dress code is, what facilities are available for their kids or

teenagers, and where they should park when they arrive. Hendricks et al. (2014,

chapter 7) suggests that new visitors will also want to know information like how long

the service is, how many people will be there, and if they are expected to donate

money during the service.

This information should be made very obvious and easy to access on the website.

Often the best way to accomplish this is to create a page or site section dedicated to

providing this information. It could be labeled under, ‘I’m new’, ‘visit’, or ‘learn more’.

An example of this kind of section, which is aimed toward the ‘new visitor’ persona

can be found on Mars Hill Church , Seattle’s website. (Fig. 1a and Fig. 1b) They have 1

named this section ‘the guide’ and it seeks to answer all the questions that new

visitors might have before they come to church. They provide information like what to

expect at the services and location information. Also presented on this guide are some

of the values the church emphasises: Jesus being the centre of what they do and the

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Mars Hill church is a mega-church located in Seattle, WA. It features multiple campuses 1

that span across several states in America. Their founder and lead pastor is Mark Driscoll.


importance of preaching and worship in their services. They also provide information

for families regarding their kids programmes.

One phenomena for the church web developer to consider when creating a church site

is, the raise of mobile and tablet technology. If is important that the ‘new visitor,’ as

well as the other personas, are able to view the site’s content no matter what type of

device they are using. Mobile internet traffic has increased significantly over the past

number of years. An example of this shift in web traffic can be seen in India. “India

become a mobile-first country in May 2012. For the first time in history, more people

accessed the web in this country via mobile than did desktop.” (Monk Development,

2013, p.8) The statistics for mobile internet use in Ireland are not as high as this

however, in 2013, 38 percent of the population accessed the internet daily on their

smart phone (Google, 2013, p.2). The use of mobile technology for web browsing is a

trend that continues to grow in both the Irish and global contexts and needs to be

considered when developing a website.

Church’s must begin considering a mobile-first environment due rise of this

technology (Monk Development, 2013, p.8). One way to ensure that a website is

optimised for mobile browsing is to use responsive web design. These types of site

place a high priority on the mobile web experience as they respond to the devices

screen size, insuring that the information is resized and displayed in a legible way, no

matter what the device. Hendricks et al. (2014, chapter 11) comments, “A responsive

site can work for both the mobile users and the Internet Explorer holdouts.” The

emphasis of this point is not that churches should invest in the latest, cutting edge

technology, but that they need to make sure that everyone who visits their site is able

to access what they want. The last thing a church wants is a prospective visitor

deciding not to try their church because they were unable to read information about

the church on their mobile device. However, creating either a responsive or mobile

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specific website will often be considerably more expense than a traditional site. Also,

the number of mobile website users may vary depending on the church’s context so it

may not be worth the additional expense to provide a mobile-optimised experience.

Mars Hill’s website has been built with mobile web browsing in mind. Their site is fully

responsive ensuring that the information it presents is fully assessable. ‘The guide’

that Mars Hill has put together for new visitors really has everything that is needed

from such a section and is a great model for other churches and ministries to follow.

Persona 2 – Regular Attender

One of the motivations behind the Mission Process Design is to move people from one

persona to the next. The hope is that people will move from a ‘new visitor’ and become

a ‘regular attender’. As they move to this new persona, their expectations from the

church’s online presence also change. “The Regular Attender is beginning to dip their

toe into the communal life of the church; checking out opportunities and becoming

more familiar with the surroundings” (Monk Development, 2013, p.10). They are no

longer just interested in finding out information regarding the church, but they have

committed to becoming a part of the church community.

Through their research, Monk Development (2013, p.10) found that ‘regular attenders’

have moved from “seeking out information-based content to connection-based

content.” The areas that ‘regular attenders’ engaged with most were: online sermons

and media, event information, and next steps. The ‘regular attender’ already has an

idea of what the church is about and is not wondering what to expect if they attend, so

the information aimed at the first persona is no longer relevant to them. They want to

avail of what the church has to offer in the way of teaching and are looking for

opportunities to engage with other events the church facilitates.

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Monk Development’s research was carried out in the American church context. To be

able to establish principles and criteria for churches in Ireland, it is important to see

whether or not the same characteristics for this persona exist. The statistics from

Rathfriland Presbyterian Church’s (RPC) website users would seem to support this

(Fig. 2). They are a church whose congregation mainly consists of people who fit into

the ‘regular attender’ persona. The regularly updated sermon section on their site

offers audio recording of the Sunday sermon free of charge and is, bar the homepage,

the most popular page on their site.

Over a three month period, RPC’s sermons section saw over 20 percent of the

website’s overall page views. In comparison, the next most popular page only received

5 percent of the overall page views.

The theory that ‘regular attenders’ are looking for more connection-based content

from a church’s website is indeed one that seems to apply in the Irish context and

must be considered when assessing a church’s web performance.

Persona 3 – Engaged Member

The third persona to be examined is the ‘engaged member’. They are the users which

has moved on from the ‘regular attender’ by becoming much more engaged with the

church community and has made a commitment to assume the Christian identity in

the midst of that. “They’ll be familiar with the church, the community, programs, and

events the church offers.” (Monk Development, 2013, p.12)

One of the interesting outcomes of Monk Development’s research concerning the

‘engaged member’ was that they had “a strong preference for getting church-related

information from social networks, Facebook in particular” (2013, p.12). As these users

are part of the church community, digital tools like social media, which are built on

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community interaction, become viable ways to engage people and further the church’s

mission.

One of the qualities of social media is that it creates a sense of connectedness for the

majority of its users. Social media should not be used as a replacement for face-to-face

interaction, but the connections that are built up and maintained through social media

often enhance that face-to-face connection (Cooke, 2012, pp.148–149). On a wider

level, social media also has the ability to connect people to what is happening around

the world. Users, through their timeline or newsfeed, are continually being presented

with content from sources they otherwise would never discover. This connection to

information fuels people’s use of social media. However, this bombardment of

information that people people face on a daily basis can lead to an information

overload. Guinness (1991, p.94), while not directly addressing social media, raises this

issue stating that while people who experience information overload will be blindly

aware of the last twenty-four hours, they will be ignorant of the last twenty-four years.

People gain knowledge but not wisdom. The result for social media is that a message

can get lost in the sea of information that people are presented with and it will have no

lasting effect. With that said, a church can still consider using social as a tool for

communicating with the digital generation. Ignoring cultural changes surrounding

social media completely could lead to the church’s message becoming irrelevant in

modern society.

Another positive quality of social media is transparency. It can be used by individual

users as a platform for evangelism or promoting the church. Social media offers insight

into users lives as people are often quite happy to post, rather personal information,

on a service like Facebook for their friends to see. This might include family photos,

relationship information, political views and religious views. Over time, other users

will see something of their character through their activity on the service. This can

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then provide a great platform for presenting the story of a brand, which could be

gospel, or church related information. This carries much more weight with those who

have become a part of their life through social media. Because the lives of the speaker

and the listener intersect, their is a level of trust in their word or recommendation.

Cooke (2012, p.148) concludes, “There are too many people connecting their stories on

social media platforms to be ignored, especially if you have the good news of your

story and brand to share with them and you want them to participate in it with you.”

Facebook and other social media services provide a great platform to enhance

community life. One the abilities of these services is to regularly update people with

information. Following Monk Development’s (2013, p.12) research, they found that

Facebook was the most popular way for engaged church members to regularly receive

updates and notifications from the church. It ranked higher in usage than email

newsletters, printed bulletins and postcards/mailings.

If a church decides to utilise social media, it can begin by setting up and maintaining a

Facebook page or twitter account. This can then be incorporated into the church’s

website to provide a more engaging experience for its users.

Persona 4 – Mature Disciple

The last persona, the ‘mature disciple’, is someone who has been committed to, and

engaged with, the church for some time. They are maybe even someone with in the

church who has a volunteer ministry or leadership role. Arguably they are the hardest

person to engage via the church’s online presence. Monk Development (2013, p.15)

states, “While there are ways to recruit and develop Mature Disciples using the church

website, we have found this group develops best in a personal, one-to-one discipling

relationship.”

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Moving people into this category, and developing them when they get there, is based

on relationship, and often a one-to-one relationship at that. However, some of the

content that was popular with the other personas is still something the ‘mature

disciple’ is looking for. One area is sermons and media.

Monk Development’s research did also show that mature disciples wanted to access

information regarding small groups in the church. They were the group that were most

keen to find this information. “Mature Disciples wanted to know where to access

information specific to small groups.” (Monk Development, 2013, p.15) For the

‘mature disciple’ that is in a ministry role, like leading a small group, a private network

for distributing study material would be of benefit. It could possible cut down on some

of the administration work for church staff and facilitate expansion and growth.

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Assessment Criteria For A Church’s Web Presence This section will seek to engage with the material that has already been presented and

practically apply it to the Irish church context. This will be done through the

formulation of assessment criteria for a church’s web presence, which can then be used

to evaluate how well a church is using this tool to further their mission. The full

assessment criteria is attached as an appendix (See Appendix Fig. 5).

The context of each Irish church varies, leaving it difficult to say definitively what is

the most effective way for each individual church to use their website, but the

principles regarding content, design, branding and marketing will still be applicable.

The motivation behind this assessment criteria is to provide a general starting point

for churches to think critically about their web presence and what will work best for

them.

The assessment criteria is designed to be used by either, an outside party, or someone

within to the church to evaluate the church’s web presence. There are two categories,

website content and website design, each featuring questions that are to be answered

on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the highest score).

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Website Evaluation 1 St. Mark’s Church, Dublin. !This is an evaluation of St. Mark’s Church, Dublin’s website using the assessment 2

criteria that has been developed in the first section of the dissertation. (Fig. 4)

Questions will be clustered together and a rating will be given to each, followed by an

evaluation and recommendations for improvements.

Website Content

Q.1 – Evaluation: 7



St. Mark’s website seems to be quite well focused towards people who are prospective

visitors to the church. The site provides a concise welcome under the ‘about us’ section,

which is the first item on the main menu. It also features a photo of the lead pastor

and his wife. Under this section, there is a page entitled ‘church services’. Here helpful

information is given for prospective visitors like, the different service times,

translation information, accessibility information for people who are hearing

impaired, as well as what to expect from the services.

Content for new visitors is relatively easy to find and navigate. Most of it is in the

‘about us’ section and appears on the main drop-down menu under that heading.

However, if the user was not exactly sure what they were looking for, they may

struggle to come to this section first. It may be of benefit to rename the section ‘I’m

new here’ or something similar so that the attention of new traffic is directed straight

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The homepage from St. Mark’s Church website is attached. (See Appendix Fig.3)2


to this section. Another issue that may arise for new visitors is that, it is difficult to

actually find the location information for the church. It is under the ‘contact’ section of

the site along with the other contact information. It may be better to put it in a

section labeled ‘location’ or something similar so that it is easier to find. The location

information is quite bare and only features the address and a static map. This section

would benefit greatly from information regarding parking, public transport links and

an interactive google map.

The content in this section is largely just plain text and a small number of photos. This

section could be made a lot more engaging with extra photos and even the use of

video. Some photos of the church service would enrich the ‘what to expect’ section,

giving the potential visitor a feel for what the service is like. A welcome video is

another improvement that could be considered. This would allow the information to

build a sense of personal connection for the user.




The aim of the ‘Mission Process Design’ is to move people from one persona to the

next. This is done through people becoming more actively involved in the church

community. St. Mark’s website has two sections, one called ‘family' and the other

‘ministry’, which are dedicated to getting people involved in other areas of church life.

This is a real strong point as there seems to be something on offer for all of the family.

A large emphasis is placed on youth and kids ministries, as well as home groups and

other adult ministries. The information provided about these ministries on offer will

help to engage people regularly in church life. However, as has already been

commented, the user experience would benefit greatly from more photos and videos of

these different activities, giving people a feel for what church life can look like.

23


The website also features the Sunday messages in audio form and are available on the

site or to download in the form of a podcast. This is a great resource to have and will

really engage people in these personas. One improvement that could be made in this

area would be to provide video versions of sermons in addition to just audio.

Another feature that the site lacks is an ‘upcoming events’ section. This would be a

useful tool and would again encourage greater engagement from people in these

personas.

The content in these sections is relatively easy to find with the ‘family’ section in the

main menu being a great way to engage people of all age groups. The ‘ministry’ section

is also quite clearly labeled however, some of the pages seem to have very little

content. One recommendation would be to combine some of these pages into just one

page meaning that the user would not have to navigate so many pages to get the

information they require.



The website features some content to help people take their next steps, like the

ministries in the church and the academy that is offered. However, this content is not

labeled for people who are looking to take their next steps in faith. Unless the user

knows what you were looking for it would be hard to find.

On the site there seems to be adequate information about the different services and

ministries within the church. These have been well laid out in the main menu. One

improvement that could be made would be, including more photos and video on these

pages.



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The church regularly posts audio recording of sermons of their site, and some videos

from around church in the video section. The sermons and videos are under the media

section of the website which is quite logical. The user is also presented with the option

to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. This is a great feature for mobile users.

However, navigating through past sermons is quite challenging as all sermons are just

presented as a long list. Support for different message series or speaker would improve

accessibility.




St. Mark’s uses both Facebook and Twitter in conjunction with their website to

interact with people. The church’s Twitter feed seems to be regularly updated with

information about both church services and other things from church life. The

Facebook page is not updated as regularly, but there still appears to be a good amount

of content on it. The Facebook features photos and graphics from other aspects of

church which enhances the brand’s story and provides design continuity with the

website. The website itself features a Twitter feed on each page and links in the footer

to both the Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Website Design


The overall feel of the site’s visual design is quite professional and well designed.

However, the site does feel quite simplistic in its design and could benefit from the

addition of some more content and features. The site is now a few years old and, while

it is perfectly fit for purpose, the users experience could be enhance from a fresh

design.

25



St. Mark’s site uses a specific mobile site which is served up to mobile devices. This site

displays content well on mobile devices with everything resized to fit the screen. One

of the issues with this, however, is that the visual design of the mobile site is very

different from the main site. There is very little design continuity across to the two

sites.


Overall, the main menu at the top of the site is well laid out and easy for the user to

navigate and find the information they require.



St. Mark’s site features a strong and distinct church logo which is a major part of their

overall brand. This logo is used elsewhere in the church on printed material, social

media, and visual displays during services.

The logo is quite complex in its design yet visually communicates some strong

messages. The light shining from the crosses symbolise that missional values of the

church, along with flames which are symbolic throughout scripture of the power of

God and his Holy Spirit.



There is definitely a clear visual theme across the site and this continuity is continued

on the church’s social media pages.

St. Mark’s is a city centre church which is attended by a diverse range of people, in

different age groups and from different countries. The style of their services is lively

26


and modern and their website seems to reflect this with its clean, modern design and

eye-catching graphics.

Overall, St.Mark’s website performs reasonably well, when assessed using the criteria

developed. The content on the site addresses the four different personas, that have

been establish, well, however there is room to add some more information and to

make it more engaging using high-quality photos and video. The visual design is clean,

minimalist and modern and features some engaging graphics on the homepage.

However, the site would benefit from a refresh of some of the visual design elements

and an update to the mobile site which looks very different from the desktop site. The

use of responsive website design is something that could be considered if the site is re-

developed.

From a theological perspective, the website communicates some valuable actions for

user to engage with. The ideas of reaching, making, and sending are presented under

the ‘ministry’ section. These are strong New Testament principles and the fact that

they are clearly laid out on the site is a positive thing. Reaching out to people, making

disciples of Christ, and sending those disciples out to live missional lifestyles is

ultimately what the Mission Design Process wants to accomplish.

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Website Evaluation 2 Willowfield Church, Belfast. !This is an evaluation of Willowfield Church, Belfast’s website using the assessment 3

criteria that has been developed in the first section of the dissertation (Fig. 5).

Questions will be clustered together and a rating will be given to each, followed by an

evaluation and recommendations for improvements.

Website Content




Willowfield Church’s website appears to be well focused towards the new visitor

persona with multiple elements providing basic information about church life. On

Willowfield’s unique homepage, the first tile that a user is presented with is the

‘Sunday’ tile. When selected it brings the user to a section of the site which is

dedicated to informing the user about what happens in the church on Sunday.

Willowfield has four different services each Sunday, each with a different style and

content. This section provides information on each of these services from what to

expect to what facilities are on offer for kids during the service.

The site also features an ‘about’ section which is very useful for ‘new visitors’. It opens

with a well written welcome from the church’s main pastor and has other pages about

most things a prospective visitor might want to know like, the church’s beliefs, the

history and staff team.

28

The homepage from Willowfield Church’s website is attached. (See Appendix Fig.4)3


The content on these pages is reasonably comprehensive and features high-quality

photos of church life. These photos really contribute to the overall message

communicated to the user. They provide helpful insight into the church environment

and the overall atmosphere associated with the worship services and church activities.

However, the use of video would further enhance that user’s experience and make the

content more engaging. The copy from the welcome page could easily be adapted into a

script for a short welcome video, presented by one of the leaders in the church. This

would add another dimension of personal connection to the message that is being

communicated.






Willowfield’s website also features a wealth of information that is applicable to the

people who are in the other three personas from the Mission Process Design. The

church has many other activities and services other than Sunday worship. The

majority of these activities are featured in a ‘community’ section. From a theological

perspective, the idea of community is being strongly communicated to the sites users

through this section. This engagement with community, through the different

ministries and outreaches the church provides, seems to be a high-priority value

within church life.

The youth, kids and specific adult ministries, within the church, will be of particular

interest to those who are considering their next step of faith or into church life.

Information concerning these activities is both comprehensive and easy for the user to

navigate.

29


Another area of the site that will be useful for the users from these personas is, the

‘engage’ section. This section features different ways for users to engage at a greater

level with both the Christian faith and the life of the church. It features information

about a ‘Bible In A Year’ track that the church community uses as well as other

information about life groups, intern programmes and giving.



Willowfield Church posts audio messages from Sunday services on their website

however, the only way to access these messages is through an iTunes podcast or RSS

feed. While this feature is good to have, for those users who are not familiar with that

technology they may have difficulty operating its functional rendering it useless for

them.

Engagement with these resources could be improved by developing a section on the

website dedicated to presenting them. If users had the ability to listen and download

the message in-site, it would greatly enhance accessibility. This feature could also be

improved by providing a video version of these messages resulting in an enhanced

experience for the user.




Willowfield Church uses multiple social media platforms to engage with people. These

services are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. All of these service are updated on a

regular basis and feature both information about upcoming events and snap shots of

church life. The church’s Facebook page in particular is well updated and features

visually engaging graphics depicting different aspects of church life.

30


Website Design


The overall feel of the visual design of the website is very professional and attractive. It

is evident that a great amount consideration has been given to the overall layout and

organisation of the content. The homepage is one example of this. It is a very

uncommon user experience design yet works well in the context of this site.

The design’s use of bright colours gives the site a vibrant and attractive look which

really communicates the life found within a community of faith. These colours accent a

largely white background. This gives the site a feeling of light and airy space. The

overall look is very clean and modern, reflecting the church’s young, vibrant

congregation.


Willowfield’s website is optimised, using responsive technology for mobile and tablet

devices. This works well ensuring that the content on the site displays correctly and

that navigation of the site is still functional.


The main navigation on the website is quite simplistic with only four options. These

correspond to the website’s main sections. After entering each section, the user is

presented with a sub-menu that allows the rest of that section to be navigated. This

design works well considering the number of pages that are on the site. However, if the

user is looking for something specific, that main menu may not make it clear which

section contains that information. To aid the navigation, the website footer features a

comprehensive, site map style, menu containing all of the pages on the site divided

into categories.

!

31




Willowfield Church’s logo, from a design perspective is very attractive. It is modern

and eye-catching and can be used in a number of different design contexts. The logo

itself is based of the letter ‘W’ which is obviously inspired by Willowfield. Across the

church’s marketing outputs, design continuity is maintained as this logo is used

everywhere.

However, the design of the logo, while attractive, doesn’t necessarily communicate

anything about the church itself, bar the modern style the church and its

congregation.



The visual design of Willowfield’s website is consistent throughout their site and social

media pages. Their logo features on each page of the site and on social media. This

allows a strong visual brand to be developed.

Willowfield is a contemporary and progressive church and this is communicated

effectively through the visual design of their site. Users will also get a feel for worship

experiences and church life through the image used within the site.

32


Conclusion In conclusion, websites are a critical tool for a church communicating their message to

people in modern society. Often a prospective visitor’s first impression of a church

comes from their website so it is important that it effectively communicates the

correct message. This is done through the site’s content, but also through its visual

design and branding.

Using the assessment criteria that has been developed is a good way for a church to

evaluate their performance in the area and provoke critical thinking around how their

message is being communicated. Both St. Mark’s Church and Willowfield Church

perform reasonably well when evaluated using this criteria. These evaluations are

examples of how this assessment criteria could be used beyond this dissertation as a

starting point for churches wanting to improve their response to a design and

technology driven culture.

33


Bibliography Berlo, D., 2014. Berlo’s SMCR Model Of Communication. [online] Communication Theory. Available at: <http://communicationtheory.org/berlos-smcr-model-of-communication/> [Accessed 27 Apr. 2014].

Bourgeois, D.T., 2013. Ministry in the digital age: strategies and best practices for a post-website world. Kindle ed. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press.

Cooke, P., 2012. Unique: telling your story in the age of brands and social media. Kindle ed. [online] Ventura, CA: Regal/From Gospel Light. Available at: <http://www.amazon.co.uk/> [Accessed 7 Apr. 2014].

Google, 2013. Our Mobile Planet: Ireland. [online] Available at: <http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/omp-2013-ie-en.pdf> [Accessed 28 Apr. 2014].

Guinness, O., 1991. Mission In The Face Of Modernity. In: M. Eden and D.F. Wells, eds., The Gospel in the Modern World: A Tribute to John Stott, First Edition edition. Inter-Varsity Press, pp.85–107.

Hendricks, K.D., Adams, M., Courtney, E., Fogg, S. and MacDonald, M., 2014. Getting Started in Church Communication: Web Basics. Center for Church Communication.

Hipps, S., 2005. The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Hipps, S., 2009. Flickering pixels: how technology shapes your faith. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Jethani, S., 2009. The divine commodity : discovering a faith beyond consumer Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Kenneson, P.D. and Street, J.L., 1997. Selling Out the Church. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers.

Molander, G.A., 2011. Pursuing christ. creating art.: exploring life at the intersection of faith and creativity. Bloomington, IN: Westbow Press.

Monk Development, 2013. 2013 State Of The Church Online Report. [online] San Diego, CA. Available at: <http://www.monkdevelopment.com/our-thinking/resources/state-of-the-church-online-report/> [Accessed 3 Apr. 2014].

Thielen, M., 2011. Marketing plan: a mainline church in the Bible Belt. Christian Century, 128(15), pp.24–25.

Wigg-Stevenson, T., 2009. Jesus is not a brand: why it is dangerous to make evangelism another form of marketing. Christianity Today, 53(1), pp.20–26.

Wright, T., 2012. Spark*. Mirror Press.

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Yates, R., 2001. Marketing as a tool of transformation. Chicago Theological Seminary Register, 91(1), pp.35–37.

!

35


Appendixes

Fig. 1a – Guide page (part 1) from Mars Hill Church, Seattle’s website. http://marshill.com/guide (Accessed on 10 April 2014)

36

http://marshill.com/guide


Fig. 1b – Guide page (part 2) from Mars Hill Church, Seattle’s website. http://marshill.com/guide (Accessed on 10 April 2014)

37

http://marshill.com/guide


Fig. 2 – Google analytic report for Rathfriland Presbyterian Church – http://rathfrilandpresbyterian.com/ (Source: https://www.google.com/analytics/ –Accessed on 11 April 2014)

38

Go to this report2 & 3 Rathfriland Presbyterian - http://r…All Web Site Data

Jan 10, 2014 - Apr 10, 2014Pages

Page

Rows 1 - 10 of 63

Explorer

PageviewsUniquePageviews

Avg. Time onPage Entrances

Bounce Rate% Exit

Page Value

2,119% of Total:

100.00% (2,119)

1,536% of Total:

100.00% (1,536)

00:01:02Site Avg:

00:01:02 (0.00%)

565% of Total:

100.00% (565)

31.86%Site Avg:

31.86% (0.00%)

26.66%Site Avg:

26.66% (0.00%)

$0.00% of Total:

0.00% ($0.00)

1. 575 (27.14%) 391 (25.46%) 00:01:03 352 (62.30%) 24.15% 27.30% $0.00 (0.00%)

2. 442 (20.86%) 260 (16.93%) 00:01:21 68 (12.04%) 55.88% 29.41% $0.00 (0.00%)

3. 114 (5.38%) 92 (5.99%) 00:01:25 18 (3.19%) 33.33% 19.30% $0.00 (0.00%)

4. 103 (4.86%) 67 (4.36%) 00:00:14 2 (0.35%) 100.00% 14.56% $0.00 (0.00%)

5. 91 (4.29%) 71 (4.62%) 00:00:59 5 (0.88%) 60.00% 29.67% $0.00 (0.00%)

6. 90 (4.25%) 65 (4.23%) 00:00:41 36 (6.37%) 22.22% 22.22% $0.00 (0.00%)

7. 74 (3.49%) 61 (3.97%) 00:00:44 2 (0.35%) 50.00% 12.16% $0.00 (0.00%)

8. 70 (3.30%) 57 (3.71%) 00:01:34 16 (2.83%) 25.00% 21.43% $0.00 (0.00%)

9. 55 (2.60%) 47 (3.06%) 00:01:36 4 (0.71%) 50.00% 45.45% $0.00 (0.00%)

10. 34 (1.60%) 30 (1.95%) 00:00:19 3 (0.53%) 100.00% 20.59% $0.00 (0.00%)

Pageviews

February 2014 March 2014 April 2014

707070

140140140

/

/sermons/

/im-new-here/leadership/

/calendar/

/announcements/

/im-new-here/location/

/im-new-here/

/im-new-here/church-history/

/contact/

/what-we-do/bowling/

All Visits100.00%

https://www.google.com/analytics/


Fig. 3 – Homepage from St. Mark’s Church, Dublin’s website – http://www.stmarks.ie/ (Source: http://www.stmarks.ie/–Accessed on 25 April 2014)

39


Fig. 4 – Homepage from Willowfield Church, Belfast’s website – http://www.willowfieldchurch.co.uk/ (Source: http://www.willowfieldchurch.co.uk/–Accessed on 25 April 2014)

40


Assessment Criteria For A Church’s Web Presence – Fig. 5

Website Content Q.1 – How effectively does the website feature content that is sought by people in the ‘Persona 1’ or new visitor category?

Q.2 – Is this content easy to find and is the layout clear and logical?

Q.3 – How well does this content engage the user?

!Q.4 – How effectively does the website feature content that is sought by people in the other three categories, ‘regular attender’, ‘engaged member’, and ‘mature disciple’?

Q.5 – Is the website updated regularly with fresh, engaging content? i.e teaching, blog posts, event information.

Q.6 – Is this content easy to find and is the layout clear and logical?

Q.7 – Does the website provide information for people on taking their next steps in church life? Are opportunities to serve and get involved available?

Q.8 – Is there enough information about ministries and services like small groups, and youth and kids ministries?

Q.9 – Does the church publish media like, sermon and videos on their website?

Q.10 – Are these sermons and videos easy to find and is there functionality to bookmark or subscribe to a podcast?

!Q.11 – To what extent does the church use social media to interact with people?

Q.12 – Are these social media accounts regularly updated and maintained?

Q.13 – Are these social media accounts clearly linked from the website or integrated into the site content?

Website Design Q.14 – Does the overall design of the site feel like it has been thought-through and professionally designed?

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Q.15 – How well is the website optimised for mobile devices? Does it use either a responsive or mobile specific site?

Q.16 – Is the menu well labeled and the content easy to find and navigate?

Q.17 – Does the church use a logo on their website and how effectively is the same logo used elsewhere in their branding?

Q.18 – Does this logo communicate anything specific about the church?

Q.19 – Is there a clear visual theme and, design continuity across the website and social media accounts?

Q.20 – Does the website’s visual design accurately reflect the style and feel of the church’s services and events?

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