St Stephen’s Church in Barbourne recently under went the process of getting a new website, using a HUBB Church template, and are really pleased with the end result. Here Priest in Charge, Lindsey Coulthard, shares their journey and the support received from the Diocesan Transformation Communications team.
Lindsey writes:
"Our quest for a new website at St Stephens began a couple of years ago when we were drawing up our Health and Sustainability Plan. It was agreed during a PCC meeting that our engagement with social media was in need of a rethink. Our old website was difficult navigate and since websites are often the shop window into church, being the first point of contact for many, and especially newcomers, we recognised that it no longer represented who and what we are as a church and was not likely to make a good lasting ‘first impression’.
Work began in earnest with a small group literally doing some ‘window shopping’ to see what appealed on other church websites. This gave us a really good idea of the things we didn’t want to include and the things we needed to develop. The concept of building our own new website from scratch was quite a daunting prospect but we set about it nonetheless. And then……….. we received a circular communication from the Diocesan Transformation Team detailing a church website company they were happy to recommend. A couple of us attended an introductory session with Adam Johannes, CEO of HUBB.Church who gave an overview of what his company could offer and we were suitably impressed for a number of reasons:
Firstly, they provide a number of different templates for you to choose from so you can choose a style that suits your church tradition, people and context and you can trial it for free for a couple of months. Secondly the packages are very favourable and in fact are much reduced compared to what we were paying for our old host and domain name. Thirdly, the customer support was really impressive; not just by telephone but online chat and ‘how to’ videos with step by step instructions for those (like me) who have always been extremely cautious around information technology.
There are also prepopulated sections for Occasional Offices so there’s no requirement to write this material yourself as it’s taken from the Church of England website, though of course you can change as you choose. Another of the features we really love is the ‘New to Church’ page which gives anyone considering coming to church for the first time, access to really helpful and practical information.
We decided to present the idea of a trial with HUBB.Church to the PCC, suggesting that we accept the offer of a free trial period. Admittedly it took us a while to settle on a template but once it was in place we began to get more and familiar with the ‘backroom’ workings. We couldn’t recommend them highly enough for all the customer support (and patience) we received especially from Debs Dennis and were also fortunate to be able to meet with Ellie Jones of the Diocesan Transformation Communications Team who was instrumental in getting us over the last hurdle of ‘going live’.
This happened in March and we couldn’t be happier. The feedback we’ve received so far has been excellent and we now have a sleek and streamlined website which is really simple to navigate and not at all difficult to maintain.
We’re absolutely delighted with our new shop window. Why don’t you take a look? (Click link below). With special thanks to Michelle Walsh and Robyn Rooney for their time, support and skills in making this happen."
Revd Lindsey Coulthard
Ellie Jones is available to advise on different website platforms and provide free support to any church in our diocese in need of help with their current website or looking to get a new one. Please email Ellie for more information or to arrange a meeting: ejones@cofe-worcester.org.uk.
