Churches, like businesses, are getting onto the information superhighway in breakneck fashion. A search on the popular Google search engine for the word "church" actually delivers links to 26.7 million Internet Web pages.

While that result is by no means indicative of the number of churches with Web sites, it clearly shows churches and the Internet are no strangers.

In a study released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in December, 2000, 1,300 congregations were asked how they built and use their Web sites, how congregations and leaders use e-mail and whether their use of the Internet tools has helped the spiritual and every day life of their members.

The report suggested that the Internet has become a vital force in many faith communities.

In fact, the report noted, 83 percent of those responding said their use of the Internet helped their congregational life -- 25 percent said it helped them a great deal. An even greater number, 91 percent, said e-mail helped members stay more in touch with each other; 51 percent said it helped a great deal.

The Pew report showed that church members were eager to use their Web sites to increase the presence of the church in the community and to explain their beliefs.

One-way communication features, such as posted sermons or basic information were more prevalent than two-way communications, such as online prayer, spiritual discussions or fundraising.

Among the Web sites at churches studied:

• 83 percent encourage visitors to attend.
• 77 percent post mission statements, sermons or other text concerning faith.
• 76 percent have links to denomination and faith-related sites.
• 60 percent have links to scripture studies or devotional material.
• 56 percent post schedules, meeting minutes and other internal communications.

The Rev. Jennifer Thomas, pastor of 280-member Lake Park Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, Wis., said she uses the Internet for several areas of ministry - communication, teaching and preaching. She said she finds e-mail a quick way to communicate with parishioners, colleagues and her synod.

"They were using the Web site before I started at the church and I started in 1998," she said. "I'm not sure when they would have started. Maybe in that same year."

Her church's Web site is nothing fancy, by commercial standards, but is very easy to navigate to essential information about the church. And, she said, it is effective.

Lake Park recently reevaluated how the church spends its advertising dollars. Unable to find a direct mail partner that suited its needs, the church has invested more in its online efforts.

"There's a really cool Web site here in Milwaukee called OnMilwaukee.com," Thomas said. "We've done some local advertising with them and they have links to our Web site. Several people have come to special events and then joined the congregation because they saw us on their Web site."

Homegrown cooking

A study released in December 2000, by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary, Hartford, Conn., surveyed 125 webmasters of U.S. congregational Web sites and found none of the 63 who responded contracted with professional Web design firms outside of their membership to create their sites.

Researchers found that both encouraging, since the sites were "homegrown" grassroots projects of committed and motivated members, but also disappointing, because many of the sites could have benefited from professional design assistance.

Scott Thumma, PhD., the Hartford Institute researcher who conducted the study, said things have improved since then, but only to a degree.

"I think they have gotten better in the last few years, but one of the things that was very clear with congregations that have poor Web sites, the very people that are looking for churches through the Web are also the same people that would appreciate good Web sites," he said. "So, in fact, a congregation having a bad Web site is actually worse than not having a Web site at all, because it delivers the exact opposite message of what the church would want to give someone who is looking for a church using the Web."

Thomas agreed.

"I think it is very important because if that is the first impression of the congregation the person is receiving, it's going to make a difference whether they check it out or not," she said.

Taking Extra Steps

Thumma said his institute evaluates Web sites for quality every couple of months and posts a "review of excellent sites." The thinking is if more churches are exposed to Web sites that are skillfully made, more will take the extra steps to produce quality sites.

"We've still found, even though the quality of Web sites is improving, it's still thought of as kind of an in-house sort of thing. If you have a skilled high-school kid, or a skilled associate pastor or some other layperson, you might have a skillfully done site, but, for the most part, people don't."

He said so many congregations rush to put something on the Web without thinking about whether the Web site conveys their congregational identity or their culture - all of those things that really bring people into the life of the church

"Instead, they just put up a Web site like it's a brochure, not ever thinking about the fact that people are convinced to come to congregations not just on the number of programs or that they have nice graphics or they have lots of bells and whistles, but in fact that it conveys they are a friendly place or an evangelistic place or they are a missions (oriented) place.

"So much more goes into drawing people into the congregation that the web site should be the primary area of thinking about who we are as a people, what do we convey to our new first timers and yet the majority of congregations that we've looked at spend far more on their landscaping than they do on their web sites," Thumma said. "It shows when you look at half of the sites."

Medium vs. Message

P. Alex Thornburg, co-author of "Being Disciples of Jesus in a Dot. Com World," said he is not so sure Web sites that are less-than-stellar are damaging to the churches that put them up for the world to see.

"Part of me wants to say whatever we do needs to be expressed in an excellent way, but part of me also wants to say I'm not sure how efficient or effective the disciples were," Thornburg said. "What's more important is the message, rather than the medium. They are all kind of acquainted nowadays. It's so hard to apply the gospel to a world that is so different, but the essential message is still the same."

Still, churches have an opportunity to connect with people via their Web sites, thus revealing a part of themselves.

"What is said on the Internet says a lot about what particular church communities are trying to communicate about themselves," Thornburg said. "I think there are a lot of people who will look on the Internet and make some decisions about what they see on that Web site about whether they want to make the effort to go visit or not."

Karen Carlson, church secretary at Kihei Lutheran Church in Maui, Hawaii, is banking on that.

"There are a lot of people from the mainland visiting and looking for a church," she said, pointing out the main purpose of her church's Web site is to provide tourists information about the church before they get to the island vacation spot.

"If they are looking for a Lutheran church, they can find us on the Internet," she said. "I think it started with our visitors saying, ‘Oh, I wish I knew when things were and I wish we had a map to find you,' and things like that. That was one of the things that got us started on having a Web site."