There are lots of people and things that represent your church and mission and play a vital role in your ministry and church website. But you know who many of your church members would say is the “face” of your church? Your pastor!
If there is a familiar face in your church, many of your visitors will say it’s your pastor! But your pastor’s main presence shouldn’t just be at the Sunday service or at connection groups, this person should have a thriving presence on your church website, too. It’s important not only for your congregation to be able to connect in person, but to also have the opportunity to connect online, too.
Ensure your pastor has a bigger role in your church website with these 3 ideas:
Participating in Your Church Blogging
More than likely, your pastor is super busy and the last thing they have time for is to sit down and write a blog post. However, there are still some ways to make it work. One way involves having a recorded conversation with your pastor. After you have put the conversation into a readable format, it's always a good idea to have your pastor look over the post before it goes up. They may have said something during the conversation that doesn't translate well into print, so they may need to make some edits or deletions. Another valid way to go about getting your pastor to put up a blog post would be to make it Q&A style.
If your pastor doesn't like either of these options, have them turn one of their sermons into a blog post. One way they could do this is to simply provide a summary of their sermon. This is something that someone else could even do for them. Or, maybe they didn't get a chance to say all that they wanted to say when giving their most recent message. Their post could consist of a few more bullet points they may have wanted to add but couldn't, due to Sunday morning time constraints. Who knows, maybe one of their sermons was so awesome that it could be turned into two or three amazing blog posts.
Other ways to get your pastor to participate in church blogging include:
- Give your pastor some topic ideas along with deadlines
- Tell them the blog post only has to be between 100-300 words, not 1,000 like they might be thinking
- Make sure your pastor gets instant feedback after the post goes up so that they are encouraged to keep on blogging
If your pastor still needs to be convinced to get involved in blogging, let them know it's a great way to communicate with church members and it can be a means to reach potential visitors. By getting to know your pastor through a blog post first, visitors might be more willing to try out your church.
Posting to Your Church Social Media Accounts
In order to get your pastor involved in the church website, he or she should be posting on social media. When doing so, they can sign their message as "Pastor Paul" or "Pastor Sandy". For more lengthy posts, it can be simply be signed off with their initials: “- PP” or “- PS.” Your pastor can post anything they’d like, from Bible verses of the week, helpful quips of information, or even a humorous anecdote.
According to some statistics, 46.1% of churches believe that social media is an effective method of doing outreach. If your pastor is up for posting your church social media but isn't sure how to go about it, here are some more ideas:
- Use social media to thank volunteers
- Your pastor's congregation may be a little curious about what life at home is like so they can consider posting pics from the home front
- Share some nuggets from the upcoming sermon
- Use social media to encourage other pastors in the community as a way to help foster church unity
The only concern about getting your pastor to post on social media is that they might become addicted like the rest of us!
Having a Regular Recurring Series
Having a regular recurring series on the church website can help visitors know what to expect from the pastor. When doing a recurring series, it can be as brief or as long as your pastor wants it to be. It can also be as frequent as they would like. When trying to come up with ideas for a series, it doesn't have to be serious—it can be something lighthearted and funny. It can even be something that lets the congregation get to know a side to their pastor they don't often see. The blog or newsletter would make a great place for the recurring series. It can also even include pictures and videos to help attract readership.
Some ideas for a regular recurring series might include:
- A “letter from the pastor” series and, again, it can be as funny or as serious as they would like.
- An "ask the pastor" series where the pastor takes actual questions from church members and provides a response—make sure to keep these anonymous if necessary.
- A "volunteer of the week" series where the pastor is able to commend church volunteers.
- A "picture of the week" series where the pastor can post some great behind the scenes moments from various church events.
- A supplement to an ongoing sermon series.
- A "how-to series" that helps members learn how to do things like translating passages from Hebrew to English.
Whether it's through the blog or newsletter, there are many ways for your pastor to include a regular recurring series on the church website.
