Commandment 8 – Thou shalt be relevant and changing

The old adage of “the only consistent thing in life is change” is so true!

Think about how you’ve changed in the last year, 3 years, 5 years. I was just Facebooking with some old (no pun intended) classmates from college. I haven’t talked to them in 22 years. Talk about change! To see current pictures and remember how they looked “back then” — it’s a sobering moment, given the fact they’re saying the same about me too.

How about your church? Is it changing too? How much change? Or is change needed at all?

Now I’m not talking about changing what we believe. The Bible hasn’t changed, and God hasn’t changed either. So the message shouldn’t change. HOWEVER (!!!!) I believe that the church needs to change methods or change the way we relate that message to our audience. Jesus talked differently to the Pharisees than He did to the woman at the well. Or to the little Children that climbed on his lap. But the message of hope, grace, and love remained the same.

He always was relevant. Jesus was a master at it. Then again, He IS the Master of everything.

So, how’s your website doing? Is it relevant? Does it communicate your message to the audience in the most effective way possible? Are the pictures relevant to where your audience is at? Or are they geared to the first-century monk… What about the graphic style? Is it fresh out of the 1990s? Does your website represent who you are as a church?

People on the web are now passionate to make sure that the information on a website is up-to-date — if there is ANY inkling that your website was created a couple of years ago (or more!), and not updated since then, they will flee faster than cricket when he sees a can of Raid.

A good way to check if your site seems old? Simply check the copyright date on your website… hmmm… need some updating? I’m amazed how many church sites have old dates on it. Or an announcement of things to come (you know, back in January 2008).

Ultimately, your web credibility is determined through updating. And we as the Church surely need to seek credibility. So how about it? Let us know if you need any help. It takes a professional who keeps up with the current design and programming trends of the web to do it. Our team awaits you!