Friday, September 19, 2014

New Website and a new welcome from our Church, St. Luke & St. Peter's


Well its no Dog with a Blog and I really can not say that this blog has changed the world or has been widely read, but it does give me an avenue within the context of my pastoral ministry and leadership to offer those within my life and ministry to gain a greater glimpse into how their faith interacts with the world in which we all live.

This week the new website for the church with which I serve goes live! The church is The Episcopal Church of St. Luke & St. Peter’s and the website is www.lukeandpeter.org.

This new website replaces a perfectly adequate website which has served our church for many years. This new site however does some things the old site does not. First, it connects potential visitors and our current members with pictures and videos of happenings at our church. Second, it also connects visitors and members with online Calendars, social media, sermons and my pastors blog. This will allow visitors to gain a much fuller grasp of who we are, what we do and what we believe. It will also connect current members to the life of the church in a more comprehensive fashion.

I love what a Barna group survey from the late 1990’s (yes eon’s ago) indicated of visitors to churches who were looking for a new home. This survey posited from a study it did on persons searching for new churches that visitors to our church will know within five minutes of walking through our doors whether or not they would ever come back. Visitors first impressions of how they are welcomed as well as the ‘curb appeal’ which shows that the church has resources for ministry is vitally important if we ever want a visitor to remain.

Churches took this information and started welcome ministries that began the greeting process on Sunday mornings from the moment a person’s car come onto their property. They also made sure that their campuses were well maintained and beautiful as a mark of ministry. I think anyone in business understands the principle that making people feel welcome is truly tremendously important to inviting and maintaining clientele.
However we no longer live in the 1990’s when visitors found us in the phone book or with a print ad without any knowledge of what the church is really like. Their first impression of a church was when they stepped onto the church campus and how they are greeted once they arrived. Today, potential visitors will take their first steps into our church by finding us online. In today’s world, potential visitors will judge whether or not they will even set foot on our church campus based on what they find via our website and social media. This means online welcoming and online ‘curb appeal’ which allows visitors to easily find us and explore who we are is of the utmost importance.

I would be surprised if you disagreed with this assessment because you are most likely reading it on my Blog. Anyone who takes the time to read a blog understands that in our world today we first search online for everything in order to determine what we will search it out in person. Our new Website attempts to bridge this gap by creating a website which will mirror the welcome and family friendly nature of our Church. We hope that by searching us out online, you would be a church which desires to warmly welcome you as a part of that family whether you have found us for the first time or have been a member for years.

The Church of St. Luke & St. Peter's Has two new websites one for our church and one for our preschool, both of which we believe are reflections of what you will find when you visit us in person.
Church website: www.lukeandpeter.org
Preschool website www.lukeandpeterpreschool.org

Fr. Rob+