The first place a person will look to get information about your church is online. This page contains advice on parish websites and how churches can make the most of their presence on 'A Church Near You'.
On this page:
Websites
Parish websites
Your church website can play an important part in your communications and profile in the local community.
A good church website:
- Is a shop front to the local community and will be seen by people who are looking for more information about exploring faith, weddings, baptisms, funerals, mums and toddler groups, foodbanks, church schools, local history and much more.
- Is a resource hub for your congregation and church leaders providing vital information.
- Can be a key part of your stewardship and giving programme.
- Can help give voice to your church in the local community.
A good church website need not be expensive and by using a website template system need not be managed by an expert.
Some examples of good template website services include:
When purchasing a website package, you normally need to purchase three things:
- A domain name - your unique website address
- Hosting space - a space on a server where all your content will be stored
- A content management system - a tool to easily edit your website with so you don't need to use code.
The template website services above will allow you to purchase all three of these services and usually pay for them with a small monthly payment. They will also provide guidelines to help you edit the website.
Template services also allow you to purchase or integrate other functionality such as giving tools.
If you have bigger budget for your parish website, you may wish to consider having a bespoke website built by a web designer.
For further advice on parish websites contact our web designer James Cottis. James also offers a service to build parish websites.
A Church Near You
Every Church of England church in the country can be found on www.achurchnearyou.com. If you have no website at all, this is a good place to start to make sure people can find out essential information about your church.
The 'A Church Near You' Help Centre contains a wealth of helpful information to help you get started:
The blogs below will help you make the most out of your 'A Church Near You' page:
The 'A Church Near You' Resource Hub
If you have ownership of your 'A Church Near You' page you will have access to a wide range of resources from the Church of England through the 'A Church Near You' Resource Hub. More information on the free resources available on the 'A Church Near You' Resource Hub can be found on our 'Design tools, images and digital resources' webpage.
Training webinars
The Diocesan Communications Team hosted a series of Online Church webinars to support parishes with using digital communications in their mission and ministry. Linked below is a training webinar that covered the use of digital tools such as Email, WhatsApp and websites and the practicalities of using them. During the webinar we were joined by guests from across the diocese who share their own experience of using these tools.
The full series of online church webinars can be found on the link below:
