Using the Parish Website for Adult Faith Formation

April 30, 2013Sr. Susan Wolf, SND

Websites are essential communication platforms for all organizations, institutions, communities and ministries. Using them effectively to carry out one’s mission takes thought and care.

On April 10, 2013, Jonathan F. Sullivan, the Director of Catechetical Services for the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, presented a very practical webinar (online presentation) sponsored by the Adult Faith Formation Committee of the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership (NCCL) entitled Using the Parish Website to Power Adult Faith Formation.

The presentation focused on parish websites from the perspective of adult faith formation and had four sections:

simple design principles that all websites should follow
practical suggestions for creating materials to be used on the website
how to prudently select or “curate” resources to appear on your website
ways to let people know that the resources are posted and available

Jonathan also highlighted several parish websites that demonstrate his points.

The presentation takes a little less than an hour and would be well worth your time if you are a catechetical leader for adult faith formation of if your organization or community wishes to provide resources related to your mission to your members or visitors on your website.

Congratulations and thanks to Jonathan and the NCCL Adult Faith Formation Committee for a fine presentation and for making the recording available to people who were not able to attend live.

You may view the presentation here.

You can visit Jonathan’s blog here.

How are you using your website to share resources?

Comments (5)

Jean

April 30, 2013 at 1:17 pm

Hi Sr. Susan,
Do we need his permission to show his presentation to a group?
Thank you for all of your helpful tips and resources!
Jean Ponder Soto
Sr. Susan Wolf, SND

April 30, 2013 at 3:53 pm

Dear Jean,

This video is listed on YouTube with a Creative Commons Attribution License (reuse allowed.) So you may show it to your group, just give credit. To learn more about the CC License on YouTube visit this site http://www.youtube.com/yt/copyright/creative-commons.html.
Jean Ponder Soto

April 30, 2013 at 4:04 pm

Thanks so much! If you have any suggestions for online material that would be good for a workshop on social media and ministry, I would be very grateful.
The participants will mostly be just ordinary lay folk. I will suggest that they use whatever media they are already using. The idea is to go low tech and use the connections that they already have.
Thanks in advance.
Jean
Pat Sylvester

May 1, 2013 at 10:19 am

Thanks for this Susan. I have given our Adult Faith Formation Committee your website and encouraged them to subscribe and watch
the webinar on using the parish website for AFF. This is just the kind of practical help and direction that we can easily access and understand.
Jonathan F. Sullivan

May 1, 2013 at 9:04 pm

Thanks for sharing the webinar, Sr. Susan!