Planning Your Parish Web Site
Part III: Immediate Steps and Ongoing
Support
by Brandon Jubar
What Can the Parish Offer Online Immediately?
Hopefully, a by-product of your goals and expectations
brainstorming sessions will be a thorough understanding of what types
of information and services your Parish can offer online. Whether or
not this is true, the question still needs to be answered. What
information does your Parish currently have in electronic format?
One place to start is with your Parish bulletin. If it is already
in electronic format, have it delivered to the Parish Webmaster every
week for inclusion on the Web site. Once a mailing list is
established, the bulletin could be converted to a PDF file and emailed
to Parishioners.
Forms that are needed for different Parish programs could be posted
on the Web site as well. People would not have to worry about losing
their child's permission slip, for they could simply logon to the
Parish Web site and download the form they need.
Does your Parish maintain a database with parishioner donation
information? Maybe this could be tied-in to your Web site, allowing
parishioners to access it from the internet.
Support of the Parish Staff
Throughout the entire process, it is important for the Parish
Webmaster to keep the Parish staff as involved as possible. Even if
they all do not support it 100%, the entire staff must at least agree
that the Parish should actually have a Web site. On a very practical
note, the Parish staff will probably end up creating most of the
specialized content necessary for their particular area of the Web
site. Who better to write about Music Ministry than the Music
Minister?
Although it should not be your goal, as the Parish Webmaster, to
create more work for the various members of the staff, it is very
important for them to understand one thing: this does involve a new
commitment on their part. Although it may make their jobs easier in
the long run, it will still involve some amount of initial investment
of time and energy.
As the Parish Webmaster, it is your job to make the content easily
understandable to the masses. However, you cannot be expected to
develop all of the specialized content necessary for an effective,
fresh and informative Web site. Thus, you should identify the various
content owners for your site. As stated above, implementing and
maintaining a Parish Web site should not be seen as a drain on your
other resources. The intent should be to provide an additional tool
for the various ministries, rather than an extra 'job' for the Parish
staff.
The Information Age Church
In this age of information technology, it is imperative that the
Church use that technology, and use it properly. Wherever there is a
computer that can access the internet, the Church can be present. We
have been given the means to communicate the Word of God throughout
the world in the blink of an eye. It is up to us to make sure that
God's message is delivered effectively. One way of doing that is by
planning, building and maintaining a Parish Web site that puts His
Word in front of people over and over, by bringing them back-again and
again.
|
