Shai and I recently revisited our goals for Welcoming Websites, including the second goal: "Minister to people through the web by providing pastoral resources and building relationships." To make sure that our goals are still relevant and compelling to the work that we do, we considered the questions "What does it mean to minister to people through the web? What is online ministry? How is supporting online ministry different from our firstgoal of helping congregations welcome newcomers and engage members and friends?"

Our goal statement provides part of the answer: ministering through the web includes providing pastoral content and building relationships. But to get an even clearer picture of what online ministry is, I think it's helpful to consider what is not online ministry.

There's a significant amount of important content for church websites that does not constitute online ministry. It is critical for congregations to post their contact information, directions and service times on the homepage of their website. But that content is not online ministry -- it is content intended to encourage newcomers to take a next step (i.e. attend worship).

A useful church website should also include content that helps newcomers and members engage more fully in the life of the congregation. Examples of this kind of content include calendars of upcoming events, religious education registration forms, and reports from committees. But this content -- however important for engaging members and newcomers in the life of the congregation -- is different than the content of online ministry.

Online ministry provides sites for meaningful spiritual engagement online . The primary purpose of online ministry is to provide spiritual nourishment to people where they are (on the internet). At its best, online ministry offers comfort and healing even to people who never visit a congregation in-person.

There are many reasons -- including disability, burdensome work or family schedules, and geographic isolation -- that people who are seeking spiritual support may not be able to attend a congregation.

Religious groups have long recognized the need to serve this group. Before internet use became widespread, religious groups were already employing postal mail, telephone, radio, and other communication channels to reach people who could not or did not attend congregations. Online ministry is a new twist on the old idea.

The creation of new web technologies and capabilities allows for an increased level of engagement with people who do not attend congregations. Blogs by ministers and committed lay leaders provide spiritual inspiration and opportunities for conversation about religious issues. Religious leaders and organizations can also use Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter to engage seekers as well as congregants. Audio and video -- used in combination with mediums that allow for online conversation -- also provide means for sharing inspiration and comfort.

Of course, these ministry efforts not only serve people who cannot or do not attend church, but also church members who enjoy engaging with congregation online and in-person. But while online ministry sometimes overlaps with services for members and in-person visitors, it must also be considered as having its own unique purpose (to serve those who cannot or do not attend). The possibilities for ministering to people through the internet are extraordinary, the need for this ministry is real, and there are many religious groups and individuals who feel called to this kind of service.

We at Welcoming Websites are committed to finding new ways to help liberal religious congregations provide online ministry, and welcome any suggestions about additional services that we can offer to fulfill this goal. If you have a suggestion, please e-mail Shai (shai@welcomingwebsites.com).

If you're reading this on welcomingwebsites.com, you may have noticed our site has a new look!

This is our second design since we founded the company in September 2007. Our first design was the Garland theme for Drupal, with a purple color scheme and our logo in yellow. The Garland theme is a classic theme that comes pre-installed with Drupal; the design is attractive and the customization required is minimal. However, as the range of content on our site grew, we realized we had outgrown the design and the site had begun to feel crowded.

For our second design, we looked for a theme that was attractive, spacious, and easy to navigate. (And free!) We selected the Fervens theme for Drupal 6.


Here's a screenshot of how Fervens looks without any customization:







Our next step after choosing the design was to tailor it for Welcoming Websites by making changes to the colors, font and layout. To create continuity with our previous design, we developed our color scheme around purple and yellow. We also came up with new variations on our logo (the 8-point star) that fit with the use of round shapes and gradients were in the sidebar blocks.

With the new design, the website feels to us lighter and easier to navigate, and we hope that it is even easier for visitors to find what they are looking for on our site.

Welcoming Websites now has a Facebook page! The page is another venue for us to share news, photos, and videos, and for fans to post questions and comments about web development for congregations and religious nonprofits.

Welcoming Websites is creating a software package for congregations seeking an attractive, functional church website at a low cost. The package, which we're calling "UU Drupal," will include the core Drupal system with added functionality such as calendars, audio sermon archives, newsletter archives, and a blog. At least five free design themes will be included, so your congregations can select the look that best reflects its personality. The administrative interface will be user-friendly, allowing your website administrators to update the website with ease. Drupal is open-source software and we can install "UU Drupal" on your hosting environment, giving you complete access to the site and its underlying code. A "UU Drupal" site will be extensible, meaning that additional functionality can be added over time. We look forward to providing this new service to congregations in 2009.

Note: Since the original publication of this post, we have renamed our product Welcoming Websites Wizard.

The Unitarian Universalist Statewide Advocacy Networks mobilize Unitarian Universalists to advance social justice. The following eleven states have networks: California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Washington. A twelfth network is forming in Missouri. The statewide networks are sponsored in part by the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.

Welcoming Websites has created a website for the UU Statewide Advocacy Networks to facilitate communication among network leaders and to share information with the general public.

The website includes content for the general public and a members-only section. The public portion of the site offers advice and sample documents for visitors who may be interested in starting a statewide network. Network leaders are able to post sample documents to the website and to designate whether these documents are for the publicly-accessible section or for the members-only section. The members-only section also includes a group blog to which leaders can post.

Dispatches from the Religious Left: The Future of Faith and Politics in America, edited by Frederick Clarkson, will be available October 1st (or you can pre-order now)!

The anthology includes "Using New Media to Strengthen the Religious Left," which Shai and I wrote to give religious progressives nuts-and-bolts advice on building a new media strategy. We walk readers through the various types of new media (such as blogs, social networking, and social bookmarking), give examples of specific tools within each type, and offer a prescription for a balanced and manageable new media strategy. In crafting this essay, we drew on our experience providing web development to religious clients through Welcoming Websites, and on other personal and professional experiences using new media.

For updates on events and online conversations related to "Dispatches From the Religious Left" please visit Clarkson's website.

I am pleased to announce that in June, I accepted a permanent position at the Unitarian Universalist Association with nearly-full-time hours. My position is public witness specialist and I help publicize the public witness initiatives of the UUA and member congregations. During the spring I had been working at the UUA on a part-time basis; I decided to step up my commitment because this is a wonderful opportunity to raise the public profile of Unitarian Universalism and share the good news about our congregations. The desire to help share our faith led me to co-found Welcoming Websites with Shai, and that desire that will continue to fuel my work at the UUA, as well as our work here at Welcoming Websites.

The decision carries for me a little sadness that I will be spending less time each week at Welcoming Websites. However, Shai will continue to be fully available to new and ongoing UU clients, and we will continue to offer the same level of web development services. Welcoming Websites has had several accomplishments that we are proud of this spring, including the launch of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee website, the redesign of Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt's blogs, and a good start to the redevelopment of the Prairie Star District's Stonetree Congregational Resources Project website.

For those of you who know me also through the UUA, or through Looking for Faith, you may notice that I am wearing many hats. (Sorry to use such a cliche, but there's just no other phrase for it!) We want to be very clear that Welcoming Websites continues to be an independent business; we are not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise supported by the Unitarian Universalist Association.

If you have any questions about how Welcoming Websites operates, or suggestions for how we can better serve congregations and religious nonprofits, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Welcoming Websites is pleased to be working with the Stonetree Congregational Resources project. The Stonetree website, supported by the Prairie Star District of the Unitarian Universalist Association, connects Unitarian Universalist congregations with people who can serve as resources on the arts, ceremonies, social action, and other areas related to congregational life. Welcoming Websites is assisting the Prairie Star District in using Drupal to make the Stonetree Congregational Resources website more scalable, and accessible to a larger audience.

Welcoming Websites has been working with Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt to develop a more unified look among her two established blogs (RevRose.com and TrusteeTalk.net) and her new blog (NoHomeTraining.org).

As part of this process, we migrated Trustee Talk into Wordpress and installed Wordpress for No Home Training. (Rev Rose was already in Wordpress). With all three blogs then using Wordpress, we produced three different variations of the Hemingway Wordpress theme and installed one on each of McNatt's blogs. The structural similarity between all three variations of Hemingway creates continuity between the three blog, while the unique color schemes allow each blog to have its own personality.

Trustee Talk

Rev Rose

No Home Training

We are pleased to be starting work with a new client, the UU Church of Riverside.

The Universalist Unitarian Church of Riverside (UUCR), in California, is transitioning to a site based on the Drupal content management system. Their new site will feature a fresh design and increased functionality, including a sermon audio archive, surveys for website visitors, and a minister's blog. With the support of the congregation's website task force, lay leaders and church administrators will be trained to add content to the website on Drupal's user-friendly interface. Welcoming Websites is enthusiastic about enhancing UUCR's online presence through increased functionality and usability.