Reformation Scotland’s mission is to bring wisdom from great authors of the Second Reformation period (1638 to 1661) to the present-day church, unearthing their insights and republishing them in booklets, e-books, and blog posts. Despite their quality of content, Reformation Scotland garnered little online attention. Their existing website platform had many frustrating constraints—links refused to…
The Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension, or CHMCE for short, deals with the church planting work of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC). The CHMCE originally appeared online as a section of the opc.org page, but as the CHMCE grew, that arrangement became too confining. In order to keep information flowing freely, and to…
A couple of days ago, I shared a quote which emphasizes the importance of people in making your church website an effective tool for outreach: Technology is not the hard part. For most ministries, spending less time on technology and more on people and processes will bring a better chance of success. So how do…
Answering this question involves three things: Understanding the people to whom you are ministering . Reflecting on your mission and purpose. Diagnosing whether you have the right tools for the job. Step 1: Understand how people in your church and community use the web today To communicate efficiently and effectively to the people of your…
It’s more than just technology How to build a church website is a great question. Doing so involves three components: technology, people, and processes. Technology, people, and processes form what Dave Bourgeois of Biola University calls “the digital ministry framework.” To build a church website which is a useful tool for outreach, you need to answer questions about…
Every church in North America should regularly evaluate the effectiveness of its use of mass communication tools God is at work building the church on the foundation of Jesus Christ to be a witness in society. Communication is necessary in this work. “Face-to-face” is the best and most precious form of communication. But throughout church history there has…
Ministry in the Digital Age: Strategies and Best Practices for a Post-Website World by David T. Bourgeois. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2013. Paperback, 144 pages, list price $15.00. As a “Millennial” who builds church websites and studies Reformed theology, I’ve often felt a tension between my theology and my occupation. Let me try to…
There’s a huge cyber-war happening on the Internet. You may not see it, but the battles are very real. Last September, Bank of America was hit by a massive cyber attack, which Fox News described as originating from a radical Islamic group. Largest Battle in Internet History? Last week, one of the largest attacks in…
“Technology is not the hard part,” said Dr. David Bourgeois in a recent interview on ReformedCast. “People and processes are the hard part.” Dr. Bourgeois is Associate Professor of Information Systems at BIOLA University and author of a forthcoming book entitled Ministry in the Digital Age: Strategies and Best Practices for a Post-Website World. In his…
Photography is a key component of every website we do. Over the years, we’ve combed through thousands — probably tens of thousands — of photos for church websites. In this post, we share some things we’ve learned along the way. These 20 photo ideas are divided into three categories: People Close Ups Abstract Imagery People…