“If a church can’t be Googled, it doesn’t exist,” explained Anne Rudig, Episcopal Church Director of Communication. “The easiest way for us to grow our Church is to make it easy for newcomers to find us online. We are glad to be able to offer affordable websites to congregations and dioceses to help them evangelize.”

“Congregations are missing many potential members and opportunities if their church cannot be found online,” noted Jake Dell, Episcopal Church Advertising and Marketing Senior Manager. “Potential church-goers want to ‘try before they buy’ and, as a result, they look to the web and increasingly to social media to evaluate a church.”

For this innovative offering, the Office of Communication is partnering with Monk Development’s Ekklesia 360, a well-known global web development firm that builds websites for churches, non-profit organizations, seminaries, and others. “We wanted to align with a group that has a proven performance and understands the specific needs of churches, and Ekkelsia is that group,” said Mike Collins, Director of Digital Media.

Advantages of the plan
Through this program, churches choose a website template which can be tailored to include information such as services, events listings, key announcements, online donation opportunities, recent sermons and others. In addition to the content management, the templates offer news feeds from Episcopal News Service, worship and mission documentary video feeds, and other features that will keep these sites updated and connected to the larger church.

This plan is also available to dioceses and Episcopal organizations.

“The convenience and assistance to the congregation cannot be topped,” Dell said. “The parish website solution saves time and money compared to other, costlier solutions. It can be set up in a few hours and updated easily.”

Also included in the plan are the critical needs of training and technical support.

“Having a website can help churches grow and can provide a showcase for activities and events,” noted Dell. “It’s a way to build and maintain a community, and it gives congregations a way to interact with the community.”

For more information on website templates contact Dell at jdell@episcopalchurch.org

Monk Development: http://www.monkdevelopment.com/
Ekklesia 360: http://www.ekklesia360.com/episcopal-church-partnership/

See the ad on Episcopal News Service: www.episcopalchurch.org/ens and The Living Church: http://livingchurch.org/

The Episcopal Church welcomes all who worship Jesus Christ in 109 dioceses and three regional areas in 16 nations. The Episcopal Church is a member province of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

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