Theological language has its place. Your homepage probably isn’t it.
I’ve been working with a client recently on writing website copy (also known as “brand story”) for their church. When the pastor saw the first draft, her feedback was that it lacked theological language.
I understand the instinct.
But here’s what we had to work through together. Their website already has what another member of her staff called “essays worth of theological language.” The copy I was writing served a different purpose entirely.
It’s not about the church. It’s not even about God’s plan for the church, which sounds like the same thing but isn’t. It’s language crafted specifically for the person encountering your congregation for the first time in a digital space. Someone who may be curious, skeptical, lonely, searching, or all of the above. That person does not need a theology lesson. They need to be able to picture what it actually looks and feels like to walk through your doors.
Theological language is insider language.
And insider language, however rich and meaningful it is to you, can function as a barrier to someone who doesn’t yet share your vocabulary or your familiarity.
While we were in that same meeting, someone else suggested that we include a line about how God is doing great things at this church. And I had to gently point out that every single one of my clients would say the exact same thing. Probably in those exact words. If your website could belong to any church, it isn’t doing its job.
The goal is to write about yourself in a way that is specific to your community, welcoming to the person who doesn’t yet know you, and honest about the actual experience someone will have when they show up.
That is a harder thing to write than it sounds. It is always worth the effort.
This summer, I encourage you to pull up your website with fresh eyes. Or better yet, ask someone who is not a member of your community to read it and tell you how it lands. Does it feel warm or does it feel exclusive? Does it sound like you specifically or could it be anyone? Is it written for the people already in the room or the ones you’re actually trying to reach?
Start there. The first thing people encounter should be the experience of knowing you, not the language required to understand you. The theology can follow.
Go disrupt something,
Christen
