Open source Web Designs[1] has a collection of templates for various content management systems.

[1] http://www.oswd.org/

Top 10 Tips[1]. A list of Do’s[2] and Don’ts[3]Links in this article:
[1] http://www.greatchurchwebsites.org/top_10_tips.php
[2] http://www.greatchurchwebsites.org/on_website_design_dos.php
[3] http://www.greatchurchwebsites.org/on_website_design_donts.php

Looking for an open source PHP/MySQL content management system for your next ministry project? OpenSourceCMS, has reviews and ratings for many of the open source CMS systems. The software packages are grouped into portals, blogs, e-commerce, groupware, forums, e-learning, wikis, a lite category, & misc.

There is a Content Management System for Missionaries written in PHP/Mysql. They are looking for help in developing the system.

There’s a wonderful interview with Mike Atkinson that talks about some of the advantages and pitfalls of haveing a church website. It starts with the idea that a church should have a website, since people looking for a church are as likely to do a web search as anything else. But what should it include and what pitfalls should be avoided?

To Avoid
– Out of Date content. Out of date content should also be avioded. Any news articles/upcoming events should refer to activities that have not occured yet. This is not an archive of pre-historic press releases and it is also not the WayBack Machine.

– non-Working contact information. Surely someone will have a question about your church. Or they may just want to see if anyone is home. Look to some big sites like North Point Community Church, Saddleback Church or Willow Creek Community Church. There’s an “About Us” across the top (or down the left hand side) and it’s easy to find an address and phone number, Generally within the 800 x 600 standard web browser window.

– Site navigation should be clear and easy. This may mean that the site isn’t quite as ambitious as you might think. We’re not building an encyclopedia here, just giving people the information they need.

to Include
Well, make sure you have a simple to navigate site, with up to date contact information. Service times and upcoming events should be easy to find. And the site should answer questions that a seeker (or church member) might want to know.

This is not the place to stroke the ego of your Senior Pastor. The three sites I mentioned above all have world renown pastors leading them but the web site doesn’t even mention them – at least not on the front page. Most churches go through pastors like water, and if a pastor leaves, the site is instantly out of date and must be redesigned. You don’t want to focus a bunch of enegery on sanitizing a site when you should be ministering to your fellow church members.

And speaking of design, think long and hard about who’s doing your site. You may have a wiz-bang java programmer that attends to your site. What happens when he takes that job in Silicon Valley at double his current salary? Do you have anyone who can maintain it?

Many churches do not have a large group of web designers of the funds to hire a big design firm. Try to create a team of volunteers who are at different stages of life (or at least work in different industries). Create a web design handbook that covers things to watch out for as well as standard operational notes. If you go with a design firm, look for one that will do a site for you that can be easily updated by the Church Secretary. That avoides paying them to update the site everytime a meeting location or time changes. It also means that they’re not going to desing a cutting edge site that is unusable but looks great.

Finally, make it someone’s (or several someone’s) job to keep the site updated. When items are added to the bulletin, should they be added to the site? If so, make sure the updater does it at the same time. This will go a long way towards keeping the site up to date.

One final thought. Consider Microsoft’s dotNetNuke. There are companies that will host the dotNetNuke site inexpensively and have good tech support. Once set up, the site is configured and updated directly from a web browser. And there are tons of plugins available. Ideas and techniques are just a google search away.

I’m running another blog here that is about Generation Jones, of which I’m a member. My cohort has a desire for something greater than ourselves, but was pragmatic when it came to career choices. Those like myself that chose Engineering (and later computers) have often had trouble finding ways to volunteer their career skills in the service of Christianity. I think that Open Source is beginning to change all that.

Tools are available that are inexpensive (or free!) and allow one to easily create web content that allows others to hear the Good News of Christ. Missionaries (especially Bible translators) are beginning to have translation tools available for linux platforms as they find the Microsoft costs rise. Sermon audio can be made available in any number of formats that allow people to download the message at their convenience and listen to it on their iPod.

Even Microsoft has gotten in on the action. They’ve developed dotNetNuke, a free and opensource content management system. I’d highly recommend this product to you if you’re looking to develop a ministry website. There are a number of inexpensive hosting services available. Once you’ve got the software installed and the site is operational (less then 15 minutes on some of the hosting services), you can customize the look and add features from third party vendors. It isn’t for the faint of heart, but if you have some computer or web design background it’s doable. Once the design is done, you can set it up so that the ministry personnel can update the site themselves. A realbenefit for you and them!