First Christian Church Baton Rouge Website Redesign

First Christian Church is a Disciples of Christ congregation on Old Hammond Highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We redesigned its website on WordPress for two very different readers: the person thinking about visiting for the first time, and the member who wants this week's bulletin or the livestream.

A visitor page built around questions

On the old site, the page for visitors was one long block of text. The service times, the parking notes and the Sunday school schedule were all there, but only for someone who read to the end. We rebuilt it as Plan Your Visit, laid out in the order a first-time guest asks:

• Service times and the address, with directions, at the top.
• What to wear, how long worship lasts, and where to park and come in.
• What happens for children, from the nursery to Children's Worship and Wonder.
• A short form to let the church know you're coming.

The church, explained in plain words

Plenty of people in Baton Rouge have never been inside a Disciples of Christ church. The homepage explains what the congregation believes in a few short lines, including weekly communion open to all who believe and a welcome for everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.

A page for every ministry

All eleven ministries have their own page, grouped four ways: care and connection, life stage, service and generosity, and worship and formation. A newcomer can find the women's ministry, the youth group or outreach without asking anyone.

A home for members who can't be there

Some members watch from home every Sunday. The Online Community page gathers what they need in one place: the livestream, this week's bulletin, the Advent Bible study and the Soul Food devotional blog.

Built for the church office to run

A church site goes stale when every update waits on a developer. The office posts each Sunday's bulletin from its own login, and we wrote them a short illustrated guide for it. The monthly newsletter, the calendar and a weekly Bible study with an online discussion sit on the same Resources page.

Their own people, in their own photos

The homepage and ministry pages use the congregation's own photos: the chancel choir at its Gospel and Jazz concert, the adult study class, the youth group and the sanctuary itself.

What we built

• A WordPress site built with Bricks Builder and Automatic.css, in the church's red, with Marcellus and Nunito type.
• Plan Your Visit, About, Our History, Our Team, Watch Live and a giving page, plus eleven ministry pages.
• An Online Community hub with the livestream, the weekly bulletin, Bible study and a devotional blog.
• A Digital Connect Card with an optional prayer request, and Plan Your Visit and contact forms that go to the church office.
• An events calendar, the monthly newsletter and a weekly bulletin the office posts itself.
• Redirects from the old site's main addresses, like the visitor and ministry pages, to their new homes.

Ready for a Church Website That Welcomes Visitors and Serves Members?

See the live site at fccbrla.org, or see how we approach church website design.