Metropolitan United Church

After three months of hard work by a small, but committed group of volunteers, Metropolitan launched a newly redesigned website on March 27, 2007.

The site has a fresh new look, a user-friendly navigation and some leading-edge features, including the capacity for congregational blogs, the inclusion of automatic news feeds from other church websites and a built-in production system that will allow more people to upload their own content to the site.

It can be a significant undertaking to develop a website for an organization with the stature of Metropolitan, even when you're not starting from scratch. With limited volunteer and financial resources, we had to be sure we got it right, so we hired a web development company to get us started. We found exactly the right one: Toronto-based Web Networks, a company whose mission is to provide website services to socially-committed organizations. Their approach is to build low-cost sites that are easy to maintain by volunteers, while including all the cutting-edge technology that surfers see everywhere else on the internet.

Our new site:

• provides "news you can use" information right up front, such as our location, hours, how to book the church, etc.;
• is intended for friends and strangers alike;
• ensures a user-friendly experience with a structure that is easy for new visitors to navigate quickly and find the information they need;
  reflects the meaningful spiritual experiences and sense of community that Met offers;
• creates a sense of shared ownership, by allowing volunteers, committees and staff to take responsibility for their own content;
• builds a connection to the world at large, by linking to external websites, such as that of the United Church of Canada;
• provides a venue for two-way dialogue and communications, exactly what the "Emerging Spirit" generation say they're looking for in a church.

Thanks to Andrew Clarke, for his stamina and leadership throughout the project, to Claire Sauve, for helping us move the site over the finish line, and to David Garlin, webmaster of the first version of metunited.org, as well as to all the staff and volunteers who provided feedback as we nurtured the site into being.

Tell us what you think

Websites continually change over time, to respond to user needs and new trends, and so will ours. The unveiling of our new site just marks the first phase of our work. We'll be hosting a lunch and learn later in the spring to walk you through the site, and get your feedback. If you're feeling adventurous, we'll even tell you about blogs and register you for your own! Watch the bulletin for more information.

Next steps: trailblazing for others

Websites are quickly becoming one of the most important ways for churches to attract newcomers and are, arguably, even more important than advertising for people under 35. When we started our work, we weren't the only church in town that wanted to create a more effective website using a more efficient production process- in fact, we share the same funding and resource challenges with most non-profits. So as part of our work with Web Networks, we agreed to be trailblazers: to 'test and learn' as we went through the development process, and then share what we learned with other congregations and churches. Andrew Clarke is taking the lead, and we are honoured to be able to provide leadership to our extended family of religious and civil society organizations.