A strange thing happened in a set of interviews we conducted during a megachurch rebrand and website redesign in 2024. We asked 12 people who attended the church a simple question: “How often do you visit your church’s website?” The answer across the board was nearly identical—almost never.
For many church leaders, that’s hard to believe. The website is often treated as the “front door.” It’s where people are supposed to start. It’s where information lives. And yet for many current members, the website plays little to no meaningful role in their weekly discipleship.
That gap is a communications problem—but more than that, it’s a discipleship opportunity. It raises a bigger question: What is the purpose of a church’s digital presence right now? If the answer is “to explain our church,” then most church websites are doing exactly what they were designed to do. But if the answer is “to help people become disciples who make disciples,” then a radical change in strategy and structure is needed.
A Clarifying Question that Re-Centers Everything
Before we talk platforms, content calendars, or website strategy, it helps to return to a foundational conviction: healthy churches grow because disciples grow. When people are increasingly formed into the likeness of Jesus, the results are hard to miss—lives change, relationships deepen, mission expands, and the church naturally becomes more compelling to those outside it.
So, the question isn’t “growth or discipleship?” as if they compete. The better question is:
Are our communications primarily designed to promote church activity—or to support people becoming disciples who make disciples?
Promoting activity isn’t wrong. Events, programs, and announcements can serve the mission. But when communications center on what the church offers, they often assume spiritual formation will happen somewhere else—through attendance alone, or through whoever has the most initiative.
A disciple-centered approach flips the order. It treats communications—especially the website—not as a bulletin board, but as a ministry tool that helps people take real steps throughout the week: learning, practicing, repenting, healing, serving, and sharing their faith in everyday life.
When the church consistently guides people into those next faithful steps, church health strengthens—and growth becomes the byproduct of a discipled people, not the pressure of a promoted institution.
Paradigm Shift: From Institution-Centered to Disciple-Centered
Most church websites are built around the institution. The top navigation often begins with “About Us,” “Our Beliefs,” “Ministries,” “Messages,” “Events,” and “Give.” That structure assumes the visitor is primarily looking for information about the organization.
But discipleship rarely works like that.
A disciple-centered approach reframes the website around one central question: “Where are you in your journey with Jesus—and what’s your next step?”
That question treats the website as more than marketing. It treats it as ministry—an always-available guide that can educate, train, and shepherd people throughout the week.
This matters because people are responsible for their own spiritual formation. And digital communication—especially the website—can become an active participant in that formation, 24/7.
The “Say-Do Gap” in Many Church Websites
Many churches say they exist to reach people, but their digital presence often speaks primarily to one group: people searching for a new church to attend. That ignores several other key groups:
- People who are far from Jesus and not even looking for Him
- People who don’t know Jesus yet but are curious
- People who have been hurt by church and are cautious about returning
- Current attendees who need help navigating real life with faith
- Growing believers who want deeper formation
A church’s digital presence must serve seekers, new believers, and mature Christians equally well. When it doesn’t, the church communicates (even unintentionally) that the website is for the “I’m New Here” folks—and everyone else should figure things out elsewhere.
Navigation Should Route People into Disciple-Making Pathways
One of the most practical changes a church can make is rethinking navigation. Rather than starting with “About Us” or “Programs,” the navigation can route people into disciple-making pathways.
For example, if a church’s mission is “Helping people know and follow Jesus,” then the navigation can reflect that directly—such as “Know Jesus” and “Follow Jesus.” The point isn’t the exact labels. The point is what they communicate: this website exists to help you grow, not just to explain what we offer.
As people explore, they should find two kinds of support:
- Clear next steps they can take personally
- Ways the church can walk with them (community, care, teaching, relationships)
The Homepage Must Speak to Real People in Real Pain
Many church homepages are built like brochures. But right now, people are carrying heavy things: anxiety, loss, conflict, addiction, grief, shame, loneliness, doubt. A disciple-centered homepage doesn’t ignore that. It speaks to it with truth, clarity and hope.
A helpful framework is a StoryBrand approach that makes the visitor the hero, positions the church as a guide, and offers clear next steps toward transformation. Done well, it reduces confusion, increases relevance, and communicates that the church understands the human condition and believes Jesus meets people in it.
Organize Content Around Lived Discipleship—Not Church Silos
Most churches silo content into sermons, ministries, and events. That’s understandable—it mirrors internal departments. But discipleship doesn’t happen in departments. It happens over time, across beliefs, habits, relationships, and everyday struggles.
A disciple-centered structure organizes growth into lived categories, such as:
- Life With God (faith, obedience, submission)
- Practices That Shape the Heart (studying the Bible, prayer, worship, giving, serving, Sabbath, evangelism)
- Community (gatherings, groups, mentoring, relationships, classes)
- Everyday Life (conflict, forgiveness, gratitude, suffering, trials, waiting)
This reflects how people actually experience formation—and it makes it easier for them to find what they need in the moment they need it.
Treat Sin, Suffering, and Trials as Discipleship Opportunities
One of the most distinctive opportunities in church communications today is to address hard topics directly. Many churches avoid sin, suffering, and trials online because it feels heavy, controversial, or complicated. But these are exactly the places where people are searching for clarity.
A disciple-centered website can provide:
- Biblical truth without vagueness
- Pastoral guidance without shame
- Pathways toward repentance, healing, and growth
This approach turns content into a pastoral tool, not just a media library. It also allows churches to speak to real felt needs while guiding people toward deeper spiritual realities.
Use Resources Strategically and Broaden the “Lines in the Water”
Church websites can responsibly curate resources from inside their church (messages, articles, guides) and from trusted Christian sources (videos, devotionals, podcasts, articles, books). When those resources are placed at relevant points in a person’s journey, the website becomes a learning environment rather than a static archive.
There’s also a practical communications benefit: when churches build rich, helpful content around real-life topics, they can show up in search results—and increasingly in generative AI responses—for non-churchy terms. That’s a modern form of “fishing”: putting more lines in the water so people who are searching for help can encounter truth and hope through your church.
Final Encouragement: Lead with Urgency and Boldness
This is not a small shift. It requires leadership alignment, pastoral support, and consistent reinforcement. Pastors and leaders need to reference the website as a ministry tool—not just an information hub—directing people to specific pages for guidance, growth, and sharing. And the church body can be trained to use those pages as a simple form of evangelism: sending a link that helps a friend take one next step.
The harvest is plentiful. The moment is urgent. Church leaders don’t need louder communications—they need clearer, more disciple-forming communications. And one of the most overlooked places to start is the structure of the church’s digital front door.
Adam McWethy is co-founder and chief operating officer of BLVR, a branding and communications agency that helps churches clarify their message and align their systems so people can take meaningful next steps, www.blvr.com.
