Web Ministry

Web Ministry is here to help you utilize the Internet for your ministry. We will focus on how to start a blog/website for your ministry which is now easier than ever before. Software programs like WordPress which are easy to use and available for free have really opened up the opportunities for using the Internet. There are places where you can get free blogs/websites hosted on the Internet. Depending on what you hope to accomplish with your web ministry you might want to consider getting a domain name and web host. You need to consider what the topic of your blog/website will be. Once you have these decisions made you can take the plunge and get your web ministry up and running. This site contains articles and information to get you started and keep you going with your web ministry.

Choosing a topic for your web ministry is one of the biggest decisions you will make. For your web ministry to have impact you will need to choose a topic that you have passion for. For a blog/website to maintain a good readership the articles you write need to have substance. They need to be well written and provide information. There will have to something that keeps bringing people back. Ultimately, if you have a blog/website that nobody reads you can waste a lot of time that would be better spent somewhere else. So what are you passionate about? Politics? World Events? Bible Study? Prayer? Missions? Whatever you choose you will need to be able to write at least one or two articles a week that people will find interesting. If you don’t write articles with some frequency people will get tires of coming to your blog/website and seeing nothing new. That is why choosing the right topic is so important. Take some time to pray about this decision. Once you have this decision made you need to decide if you want to use one of the Free Blogs / Website options or get a Domain Name and Web host.

If you are just looking for your web ministry to be a simple way to communicate with your church members than you might be very well served by one of the free blogs/website opportunities available. In this article we’ll examine two possibilities for starting a free site. One of them is Blogger.com, the other is WordPress.com.

Blogger.com

Start by going to blogger.com.

You need to either sign in (if you have a gmail account already) or sign up. Once you have done this you will see the Blogger dashboard. Here you can edit existing Blogger blogs you have or start new ones.

Go to Create a Blog

Enter a Blog Title (I used Effective Prayer Ministry). Now you need to select a blog address. This process can take a few tries because a lot of addresses are already taken (I used effectiveprayerministry). Type in the word verification and press continue.

Choose a template and press Continue

You now have a blog! Press Start Blogging. You can also use the URL address to get to your blog, for example: http://effectiveprayerministry.blogspot.com

If you want you can go ahead and get started with a post or you can examinie your settings, layout, or view your blog. Play around with your new free blog. Write some posts and you are on your way. To see what a Blogger blog looks like check out Effective Prayer Ministry.

WordPress.com

Go to WordPress.com

You need to either sign in or sign up. At this screen you can register a blog.

Press register a blog.

Enter in a domain name, a blog title and press Create Blog. You will get a screen that says the blog you just started Is Yours. Press on the link for your new blog or you can type the URL into your web browser.

You should see your blog! Under Meta press Site Admin

At the WordPress dashboard go to Presentation and select a theme from those provided. I chose Blix. When you press on the theme you will get to see a preview.

If this is the theme you want press on Activate in the top right corner of the preview.

All you need to do now is add some posts (if you need some help with how the editor works read Using the WordPress Write Post and Write Page Editor), and enjoy your new blog.