A Church Voice

Issue #13: Welcome, Everyone

May 27, 2001 - Seventh Sunday of Easter

http://www.laufers.com/churchvoice/
To subscribe, email churchvoice-subscribe@topica.com

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From Barbara’s Keyboard

The boys are watching an ant on the kitchen floor, and I'm sitting at the kitchen table with the laptop computer, listening through the open patio door to morning bird chatter and the occasional whistle of the long-distance freight trains. I like this much better than my usual spot in my quiet little office... at least until the household gets busy.

If there is a particular issue of A Church Voice that you wish you had, you can now get a copy by email autoresponder; you send a blank email to a special email address that replies with the issue you want. Issues 1-9 are available now. To get Issue #1, send an email to acv1@sendfree.com. For Issue #2, acv2@sendfree.com. And so on. To decide which issues you'd like, take a look at the archive list below.

As always, I invite you to pass along this ezine to a friend, colleague, church staff member, pastor, denominational resource person, or anyone else who would enjoy a free ezine about church publications.

During these quiet weeks after Easter Day I've been thinking about how successfully, with our Web sites and other church publications, we make others feel welcome.

Easter blessings,
Barbara Laufersweiler
cveditor@laufers.com

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C O N T E N T S

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The recently released data from the most recent U.S. national census has brought a lot of attention to the American family and its many forms. From the ever-smaller proportion of U.S. households that are "traditional" two-parent, husband-and-wife families to the increasing number and variety of single-parent households, co-habiting couples, singles of all ages living alone or sharing households, and so on, here in the U.S. it's being pointed out that families and households aren't always what we might assume them to be.

Do we remember this when we write articles, promote activities, or plan events? Or perhaps we think that planning for and speaking to the two-parent family will be sufficient, and the rest will somehow include themselves. That assumption doesn't usually work out very well.

If we want to be welcoming to all sorts and conditions of people, we need to look very carefully at our plans and our words to see who is the focus, and then look at who actually participates. Does a certain activity attract only a particular group, and if so, is that what we want?

For instance, a parish plans its annual dinner dance and advertises it as an all-parish event, but the people who come are always older married couples. That's not an all-parish event, but rather an event for a smaller part of the whole parish. Perhaps others would like to come but feel that it's not really meant for them. Rather than sending a mixed message, the parish needs to figure out whether it wants to have a dinner dance for older married couples or an all-parish event with dinner and dancing.

If your parish finds itself in a similar situation, it can either narrow the focus of the activity and promotion to whoever seems to be interested, or change the activity to be attractive to a greater variety of people. If people are quite reluctant to change the event in any way, your parish will need to put some energy into discovering what the core needs or desires are and how to meet those while clearly welcoming other interested people.

In the case of the dinner dance, the focus could be narrowed to those who are actually coming. It could be couples and singles who enjoy whatever music will be the focus, married and solo parents looking for a special evening out, married couples, or older adults, even the elderly of the parish. The parish would tailor the event accordingly and promote it specifically to those particular people.

To head the other direction, broaden the appeal: plan music that would get everyone dancing with or without a partner (classic rock, folk dances, swing, ...), make the dinner casual or a picnic or free of charge, offer child care or even children's activities. Find people who have chosen not to participate in the past, ask what was a barrier for them, and find a way to turn it around into a welcome. Completely rework how the event is promoted, making sure to highlight the new aspects and the broad appeal.

There are many ways to make a warmer welcome for those who haven't previously felt included. Begin with careful evaluation of your parish's intentions, plans, and words. Ask why people haven't participated. Add some creative inspiration and a willingness to change. See where it takes you -- and who you meet!

Next time: Are You New Here?

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I've just learned that Java can cause serious problems for WebTV users, to the extent that upon visiting some Java-using sites, WebTV users have to restart their systems. This reminds me that we need to know our visitors and their systems, and be thoughtful in what we decide to use in our Web sites. See my notes on accessibility in Issue #1.

If you use Java for your navigation and have (or want) some WebTV visitors, you might consider replacing the Java with button graphics and even mouseovers, or investigating the WebTV problem to see exactly what causes difficulties and what steps to take to avoid problems with your site. I plan to do this research for a church Web site I renovated that still has the original Java-based navigation, since the site does have WebTV visitors and we want the site to be accessible to those visitors.

If your Web host doesn't offer site statistics beyond a hit counter, get yourself to one of the free sources of site statistics, sign up, and install that code on each of your site pages. Then you can find out what browsers your visitors are using; what percentage use, say, Javascript (and what version); which pages are most and least visited; where your visitors arrive from (what Web page they were on when they headed to yours); and much more.

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A d s

Ali's Newsletter
Tips and tricks for anyone with a web site, from an experienced web page designer and web host. Keep up to date with hosting and design news, learn about some great web sites and add your site to the classifieds! Subscribe by visiting: http://www.webhostingbyali.net/registration.html

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"History's Women - The Unsung Heroines" - Short profiles highlighting the extraordinary achievements of women throughout history. Available in print and e-book formats. For more information or to purchase your copy visit: https://www.webbserv.net/historyswomen/form.html

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If you are a Christian who owns or operates a business, this is the place for you. A comprehensive directory of Christian-owned businesses, joint promotion opportunities, affordable marketing.
Christians In Business - Promoting Christ, Promoting Each Other!
http://www.christians-in-business.com

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Does it take a really long time to transform your newsletter from submissions to a printed publication ready to mail? Is some of the content out of date before it reaches your readers? Evaluate the production process for ways to improve it.

Perhaps you can rearrange your schedule to tighten up the time it takes to produce the newsletter. Maybe you can recruit a reliable volunteer squad to photocopy, collate, staple, fold, label, and otherwise prepare the printed newsletters to be mailed.

If you receive lots of handwritten submissions, look for an accurate typist to key them in. Set aside time to learn to make better use of your software for word processing, layout, or graphics manipulation.

Figure out the holes into which you lose lots of time, and figure out ways to fix them. Once the new process is running smoothly, revise the production schedule, include time for fixing problems when they do arise, and publicize the new deadline and shorter time to print. You and your readers will be happier for it.

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Sitemeter: Great stats, tiny button http://www.sitemeter.com/

WebTrendsLive: Great stats, nice privacy policy http://www.webtrendslive.com/

WebSite Traffic Report: Pretty good stats, sometimes seems to slow down page loads a lot http://www.websitetrafficreport.com/

Hitbox: Stats look fantastic; animated ad button http://www.hitbox.com/

The Counter: Invisible button option http://www.thecounter.com/

All offer upgrades to paid options. Also, check with your Web hosting company; they may have good site statistics for your site already.

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Ron Wheeler's Cartoonworks: Cartoon of the day, puzzle page, cartoon strip, clip art.
http://www.gospelcom.net/cartoonworks/

Reverend Fun: Cartoon of the day, available for print and Web use.
http://www.gospelcom.net/rev-fun/

Sidestream cartoon-style clip art -- really fun! and free cartoons for print use.
http://www.sidestream.com/clipart.htm

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A bit about my design business:

Turn your vision into reality & put your Web site to work! Creative, effective Web design for your church or small business. Barbara Laufersweiler Web Design
http://www.laufers.com/idesign/
design@laufers.com

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O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

[The Book of Common Prayer, 1979, ECUSA]

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If you find this information of value, please pass the newsletter on in its entirety.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome! If you’d like to submit a tip, question, or Web site, send me an email at

cveditor@laufers.com

For more resources, visit

http://www.laufers.com/churchvoice/

See you in two weeks!

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Copyright © 2001 Barbara Laufersweiler.
All rights reserved.

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