The Baptist Times' publication last week launched a brand new service. The newspaper commenced the new initiative by showing a big banner on their front page saying "Create a Great Website". It promotes the brand new service offered by church123.com which allows churches or Christian organisations to create a website with an easy-to-use online system.
According to church123.com, over 50% of UK households have internet access. As the number of people using the internet grows, so does the potential fruit of having a church website. A bad church website will give a bad impression for the church, but in contrast, having a good church website can help improve contact with the community, and so bring new people into the church - so called "web-evangelism".
In the early history of Christianity, the Gospel was preached through direct contact with people. However, now thanks to the development of information technology, nowadays the message of Christ can be more widespread by using the internet. Internet is a potential "net" that equips churches to become the fisher of men in this era. Just by the click of a button, millions of people can be reached and evangelised.
A number of ministries in the UK have been set up very successfully based on the web. The Church Army, a society of evangelists with the Anglican Communion, runs an online evangelism ministry Word on the Web. Established in the UK for over four years, daily bible study resources are being sent through email to over 6000 subscribers in more than 100 countries throughout the world. In light of declining church attendances, the ministry provides spiritual food to thirsty souls.
However, there are practical and technical difficulties faced by churches in implementing their websites to assist evangelism. Church123.com said that running a website is often too expensive, technically difficult and demands the skills that many churches do not have. Therefore, church123.com desires to help all churches build their websites by providing web savvy at a low cost.
The process of creating a website is made very simple for users. First, the user must choose one of the professionally designed templates, the user can then fill in the blanks with pictures and texts. With a powerful web editor system, the user can make information changes and updates at any time. Unlike other online web building tools, the user is allowed to create an unlimited number of pages. There is also free telephone support during office hours. All of these services will cost just Ł195 per year.
Those who are interested in the service can sign up for a 30-days trial on church123.com.