If you intend to reach non-Christians through your web site, your site should be more than a carbon copy of your brochure for new members, church newsletter, or favorite tract. Yet, it is certainly not necessary (or advisable) to remove from your web site every reference to God or Jesus Christ. We live in a spiritually hungry society. A sneak peak at the names and content of prime-time television shows such as "X-Files," "Touched by an Angel," "Promised Land," and others is evidence of this hunger. The emphasis of a church's web site should be how Jesus can fill society's spiritual hunger.
At minimum a site should include basic information about Christianity. Could a non-Christian come to your site and find out everything necessary to become a Christian? Does the information on your site whet non-Christians' appetites so that they readily ask for more? Christ Covenant Reformed Church of Columbus, Ohio, has designed a site that helps people discover and learn more about truth. Max Forsythe, the webmaster, estimates that about 10% of the visitors to their site are non-Christians, and they are making efforts to specifically target a nearby college campus through cooperation with campus groups there.14 People looking for an answer to the ultimate question of "What is truth?" can find it on their site.15 This approach caters especially to nominal Christians.
If your church plans to reach non-Christians, especially unchurched people, it is important to eliminate "Christianese" and use language which non-Christians can easily understand. Describe what you wish to communicate to them using their terms. The Jesus Fellowship Church in England, for example, uses a "streetpaper" to attract non-Christians. In this streetpaper, they provide "news, views and reviews for sinners and saints, for surfers and seekers on the electronic highway," and use everyday language familiar to non-Christians inside it. Headlines like "Drug Killer Confesses," "Wild Day on the Square," and "To death's door…and back!" predominate. The catchy titles and the classification such as "Personal story," "Real life story," and "Special feature" help a visiting non-Christian sift through the material to find a story that interests them, and in which they can discover the way Christ touches a person's life.16 Nominal Christians and unchurched people would both benefit from this approach.
Another approach to reaching non-Christians with a church web site is to provide religious resources without any kind of pushiness. Provide a virtual tour of your church by posting pictures and explanations on your web site.17 Provide a link so that those who are interested can read the Bible online. Make it easy for those interested to find additional information by providing links to other Christian web sites.
Links to secular web sites can also be quite helpful in attracting seekers, and some such sites will also provide a link back to your church's web site. Lamar Brantley of The Rock of Sarasota Church in Florida relates an occurrence which is more typical than you may think. "The other day we had a person email us a prayer request from across the country. They were surfing for a Weird Al Yankovich site and found a link to our site on some Weird Al site."18 Simply maintaining a list of various secular sites on the Internet can be useful in attracting non-Christians, especially unchurched people, to your site. The search engines (in which you should definitely get your site listed) index every word on your site so that if a person searches for something as secular as Weird Al, and your site has mentioned him somewhere, the person may end up at your web site. Once they have found your site, it is likely that they will look around to find out what your church is all about.
Helpful information that is
not specifically Christian could also attract non-Christians to
your web site. Do you want to attract people who are parents?
Provide parenting tips, or a question and answer column for parents.
Are you catering to those in recovery? Provide twelve-step and
recovery information which may be helpful to them even if they
are not seeking Christ. If you intend to reach professionals
and others who work in offices, you might try developing a page
which helps people better relate and communicate with each other
in an office setting.
"Chat rooms" and "bulletin boards" may also attract non-Christians to your web site. Both provide a means of making users feel more comfortable and answering questions they may have. A chat room is a place on your site where a number of people can communicate with each other at the same time.20 As members of your church monitor the chat room, real witnessing opportunities will arise as non-Christians seek to find answers to their questions about life and Christianity. A bulletin board is a page or group of pages on your site where users can make announcements, write questions and receive answers to those questions, and discuss issues surrounding Christianity even if no one else is using the Bulletin Board at that particular time.21 The messages users post can remain there as long as they are beneficial and relevant.
Making sermons available online may provide a unique way to reach non-Christians. Some may not be willing to go to church, but they may readily read, listen to, or view the sermon over the Internet from the comfort of their own home. The Internet is a non-threatening atmosphere to them, and they would not be embarrassed by taking in a church service in this way, as they might be if they actually attended one. People could respond to the sermon by asking the pastor questions online. By observing the service over the Internet, they may become more comfortable with the idea of going to church and actually attend your service at some later date.