Small business owner, graphic designer, article writer & blogger. Marnie lives on the Central Coast of New South Wales and spends most of her day doodling in Illustrator, liasing with clients and trying to keep from having 'just one more' bottle of delicious but addictive V. 
Fresh Church Sites
Following this week’s Website of the Week post which featured Edgepoint Church’s website, I stumbled upon an awesome site called Fresh Church Sites.
Similar to the many CSS galleries around, it is a gallery of some of the best church websites around. Does it remind anyone of Best Web Gallery or is it just me?
It got me thinking about how far church websites have come. The sites featured on Fresh Church Sites are a far cry from the dreary and not so interesting sites of many churches, such as The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Presbyterian Church in America and Bush Church Aid Australia.
Of course I’m not blaming churches for having bad looking websites. Many design their own or outsource the work to very cheap freelancers, which is no wonder considering their income relies heavily on donations. But, we’re talking about design here.
Even larger churches whose leaders have gone the distance to make their websites modern and appealing, like Hillsong and Docklands for instance, can’t quite compare to the new wave of church sites being pumped out by great designers.
It certainly is ‘fresh’ and it’s gotten my attention. Oh, did I mention Church Press Pro?
As always, for your viewing pleasure, here are some of the favourites:
Enjoy this post? subscribe to the RSS feed or get get updates via email.
Tags: church websites, Web design
August 26th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Just starting a new design for a church organisation, so thanks for some inspiration with the Fresh Church website link.
I find most churches just do not know what they want as well as the reasons why they suck which you mentioned. This new organisation church website is the 2nd website and I learnt a lot from the first one i did and only now after 6 months does the church know what they want
A lot of churches are 10 years behind in things, website design included…
August 26th, 2008 at 11:05 am
You’re welcome! I thought it was such a great concept. Whoever started that site had a great idea.
I haven’t designed for a church before, so I wasn’t sure why they usually suck so hard. I suppose a website isn’t really the biggest concern for a church either.
Hope you get some ideas from that site and your design doesn’t suck! hehe
Why not come back and show me when you’re done?!
August 27th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Hey Marnie
Thanks for the link…
Why do many church sites suck: well-meaning volunteers offering their services to the church for free. The church - looking to save money says yes. But this shows a lack of understanding of the potential of a church website. It’s not always a budget thing. Just what they think is important or valuable. It’s not like they would get a volunteer architect for their next building project.
Anyways I appreciate the link… and if you run across any GREAT church sites - let me know!
August 27th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
You’re very welcome. I think it’s a fantastic site!
I agree with what you’ve said in regards to why they usually suck. Regardless of why though, it’s great to see some churches such as the ones on your site embracing the web and understanding the value of a website and going for a really great design.
September 4th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Fresh Church Sites…
Following this week’s Website of the Week post which featured Edgepoint Church’s website, I stumbled upon an awesome site called Fresh Church Sites. Similar to the many CSS galleries around, it is a gallery of some of the best church websites aroun…