I was asked recently if I could provide some insight into Church website development and as part of some of the recent projects I have been involved with, what I have learned and how best to outwork a project such as this.

There are some specifics here to Church website development but on the whole there is no reason why much of this process could not be utilised for any web design project.

If I were to take on another project such as a Church website design or Church web project of any kind, I would get all the facts and a defined brief before starting anything! No designs, no quotes for work... just a really well design brief first.

In church life you have so many people that are involved in so many areas of the church and would all like to put their two pennies worth into something like a website. How can you deal with the wants and desires of everyone at the same time?

You don’t.

The best advice that I could give you is work with, at the start, the leaders to find out:

• What they want from the website?
• Why they think they need a website?
• What do they want to do on the site?
• What are the key areas/pages of the site for them?
• Who do they see using it - visiting the site or involved in updating?

After working with them on this, start to look at some level of content structure - I always find that flowcharts work best. This will help you understand what content is going to be produced and where it will sit in a site structure - in other words a paper version of a sitemap.

This will help you to shape the design, user interface and the navigation.

At this point still only work with the leaders. Get them to sign off the design and structure before doing anything else...  then comes the fun bit... 

...look at getting all people who lead ministries of the church to a meeting or send them a questionnaire - the purpose... to get from them what they would like in their section of the site.

The lack of response may tell you that people are not that bothered and if the leaders were going to give people responsibility to others to update the part of the site relevant to their ministry it may be an uphill struggle to get them to do this.

On the other hand a good response may show you that there are people who want to help and assist you with the updating of the site and could have some ideas that the leaders and you may not have thought of.

All in all, for a church it is a huge project that should be done at the right pace, not rushing into it, planning it well and executing it better. As a church, we should be willing to invest time and energies into getting something polished to the highest standard - standing out from the crowd.

It does pain me sometimes to see church sites that have had very little effort put in and have not been updated for ages. In my opinion as Christians, we need to be relevant without deviating from the Word of God - the web is constantly evolving and some churches are just not moving with the time in terms of web and other communication.

Lets have less of the peach papered photocopied time new roman or comic sans leaflets and a more professional edge to our communications.

Filed under  //   Christian   Church website design   Web design   website design   Websites  

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As many of you know I am a Christian and attend a church in my local town.

As part of the church we meet each week for a fellowship group called... small group.

Last night was this weeks small group and we were looking through a book of songs, someone suggesting this one for me to lead one Sunday. We had such a laugh last night I just have to share it with you.

Click here to download:

10_Fruity_Song.mp3 (729 KB)

Lyrics - MP3 available on http://www.jimbailey.org/listen.php

I am the APPLE of God's eye,
His BANANA over me is love.
He ORANGES His angels to look after me,
As His blessings PLUM-met from above.

Never have to play the GOOSEBERRY,
Feel like a LEMON, no not me.
For wherever this MAN-GOES,
A RASPBERRY it never blows.

The GREAT FRUIT of God,
The GREAT FRUIT of God,
The GREAT FRUIT of God it overflows.
(Repeat)

I will praise Him on the TANGERINE,
Praise Him on the MANDARIN;
SATSUMA or later you will see
There is always a CLEMENTINE for praising Him.

(c) jim bailey | for more information email: jim@jimbailey.org

Filed under  //   Christian   Worship  

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Many business owners and entrepreneurs, like you, find that their business revolves around them and that it just would not be the same without them at the helm. True. As a startup business it is normally the owner of the business that does all the sales, marketing, project work, administration, finance and so on. The light soon comes on upstairs when they realise that they can’t do everything on their own and they need to employ staff or outsource to do the many jobs needed. After all if you were good at making widgets before you started your business and now focus on marketing or human resources more than making widgets - is this right? You went in to business because you were good at making widgets, and widgets you should make!
 
The only real way to succeed in business is to treat the business as if it is an entity in its own right - let it become a business that you are serving in rather than a business all about you! As a Christian I firmly believe in the Bible as the true Word of God and feel that acting in this way, giving the business over to God has led to our success in Creative Rush “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” Prov 16:3 (NIV).
 
In doing this, handing the business over to the Lord, then not telling anyone - are we are hiding the answer from the world? If Christ can beat sin and death - a recession, credit crunch or downturn is relative small fry!
 
Keeping our life as Christians hidden from our business life it just not cricket! We should be seeking to build our business on biblical foundations just as we do for the rest our lives. Then in turn should we not live this out in the public domain, showing others how and why we do what we do?
 
Should we not display the fact that we have built our business, and continue to run our business, on the Word of God and act in many circumstances with faith more than human action or decision first?
 
In the fast-paced modern-world of business, it is especially important to realise that God’s Word should be, and remain, the cornerstone of your personal life and that of business. God’s Word gives all the insight into how we should run our businesses and with that comes wisdom. (Prov. 2:6).
 
Christians in business - ensure your life values and business values are entwined with each other and the practices of both mirror these values. Hand your business over today in your prayers and see that the ultimate provider and creator is near at hand.

Filed under  //   Business Values   Christian   Foundations   Success in Business  

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