Is Your Church Homepage Ready for Christmas Eve? (A 10-Minute Check)
Picture it: it's three in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, and somebody's standing in their kitchen with their phone in one hand and a plate of cookies in the other. A friend invited them to church tonight, and they said yes. So they type in your church's name... and land on your church homepage.
What do they see?
Lifeway Research found that 56% of Americans who usually skip church at Christmas say they'd likely come if someone they know invited them. That's more than half of the people who usually stay home!
And when they say yes, a lot of them look you up first.
This week on Digital Ministry Made Easy, I walk through a ten-minute church homepage check you can do before Advent starts on November 29th. Here's the short version, and there's a free checklist waiting for you at the bottom of this post.
Who's Coming on Christmas Eve
Lifeway asked Protestant pastors which Christmas event brings the most people into their church, and 60% of mainline pastors said Christmas Eve. For Lutheran pastors, it was 84% (Lutherans, I see you).
In a separate 2024 study, 47% of American adults said they typically go to church at Christmastime.
So think about who's in your building that night: your regulars, the people you see once a year, the people who came because somebody invited them, the people who just moved to town and miss having a church at Christmas... and some people you have never, ever seen before.
That's a pretty amazing room to be in.
What Visitors Look For on Your Church Homepage
Pew Research asked people who'd gone looking for a new congregation how they did it, and 37% said they looked online. For adults under 30, it was 59%.
And when people do visit a church website, what are they looking for? A Christianity Today survey a while back found the most common reason was checking service times.
Here's one more I love: Google has said that in past years, mobile searches for "store hours" peaked on Christmas Eve. Everybody's on their phone that day, checking what time things are happening.
If you only have time to fix one thing on your church homepage, fix the times.
The full episode walks through every check, one minute at a time. Listen below.
The Ten-Minute Church Homepage Check
Grab your phone, because that's probably how your visitors are going to see it. Pull up your church's homepage, and pretend you've never been to your church before. You don't know the building, you don't know the people, and you don't know why the thing on Wednesday meets in the parlor.
Then go down the list. Eight things, about a minute each:
- Your Christmas Eve service times, right at the top. Every service, with its time, as the first thing someone sees on their phone. That's above the fold, which is the part of the page that shows up before you scroll at all.
- Your address and parking. Where the building is, where to put the car, and which door to walk in. At a lot of churches, the door everybody uses is the little one around the side, and a visitor has no way of knowing that.
- What to expect. How long the service is, what people wear, and whether there's communion. Three sentences can answer every one.
- Anything families with kids need to know. Are kids welcome in the service? Is there a nursery?
- Your livestream link. Christmas Eve is the night so many people want to be there and can't. Put the link and the start time right on the homepage. (No livestream? Skip this one!)
- Accessibility. A ramp or an elevator, accessible parking, large-print bulletins, a hearing loop: whatever you have, say it.
- A photo of your real people. A real photo from your church, with your people in it. One from last year's Christmas Eve, with the candles, is perfect.
- One line about who you are. Something like, "We're a small church that sings our hearts out on Christmas Eve." Short, true, and yours.
Eight things, ten minutes, one phone.
When Something's Missing From Your Homepage
Something probably will be missing. That's the whole point of checking! :-)
Start at the top of the list. The service times come first, because that's what people look for most, and then work your way down from there.
If somebody else takes care of your website, send them the list this week, so it's all done before Advent starts. Because once Advent starts... you know how it goes.
And if you only have time for ONE fix? Fix the times.
Frequently Asked Questions About Your Church Homepage
What should a church website include for Christmas Eve?
Your Christmas Eve service times, your address and parking, what to expect, what families with kids need to know, your livestream link, accessibility details, a photo of your real people, and one line about who you are. Put the service times at the very top.
Where should Christmas Eve service times go on a church homepage?
Right at the top, above the fold, so they're the first thing someone sees on their phone without scrolling. If you have more than one service, list every one with its time.
How long does this homepage check take?
About ten minutes: eight checks, roughly a minute each, done on your phone.
Is this the same as a church website audit?
It's a quick, focused check of one page, your homepage, for one night of the year. It's a great place to start before Christmas Eve.
What if we don't livestream?
That's totally fine. Skip that check and go on to the next one.
My question for you: when you pull up your church homepage on your phone, what's the very first thing you see?
Get the Free Christmas Eve Homepage Checklist
All eight checks on one page, plus room to plan your fixes and who's doing them. Pop in your name and email below, and the checklist opens right away.
