In ‘There are other ways to do things‘, I argued that it’s easy to do things the way we’ve always done them, and that there’s lots we can learn by just taking a look at what other people are doing. And this principle can be easily applied to the realm of church websites.

There is so much to learn and ideas to be generated for our own church websites, just by perusing others. So to save you the hard work, I’ve done some research and will be sharing with you ’5 ideas from…’ a collection of church websites.

First up, College Park Church in Indianapolis, USA. It’s a beautifully designed site, with lots we can learn from. Here’s just five ideas:

Idea #1 – Promote your connection channels

College Park Church (CPC) has provided clear links to connect with the church – download podcasts, subscribe to eNews, befriend on Facebook and follow on Twitter. Whatever channels your church provides, use the homepage (and commonly recognised icons) to promote them.

Idea #2 – Invite a friend to church

CPC provides a form where regular members (or anyone else for that matter) can provide the details of a friend, and an email will be sent to them, inviting them to church.

Idea #3 – Ministry guide

At the very top of each page of the site is a drop-down ‘ministry guide’. This guide provides quick links to other sections of the site, without taking up too much real estate to distract from the content of the page. If you were to list all of these in a sidebar or drop-down menu, it would be overwhelming, but tucked away up the top is a good place to locate these (important, but not essential) links.

Idea #4 – Clear links to resources for newcomers

CPC has obviously spent some time thinking about how to engage the newcomer on their site and particularly on the homepage. These two panels are directed at the newcomer and invite you to click on them to learn more about the church and get your questions answered:

Idea #5 – Service times front and centre of every page

At the top of each page (next to the ‘ministry guide’) are the service times for the church. This is probably the most sought after information on any church website, and you shouldn’t make your visitors work hard to find it. Placing it at the top of each page as CPC has done is user (and search engine) friendly.

What other good ideas can be observed from the College Park Church website?