When Thomas Müller, Adventist Media Director in Denmark, got word of Denmark's Kristeligt Dagblad, one of the country's leading Christian newspapers, he declined submitting the Seventh-day Adventist church in Denmark's Web site.
When Thomas Müller, director for Adventist Media in Denmark, got word of Denmark’s Best Church-Related Web Site competition hosted by Kristeligt Dagblad, one of the country’s leading Christian newspapers, he declined submitting the Seventh-day Adventist church in Denmark’s Web site.
“[We] were reluctant to [submit our site] because we haven’t been able to update it as frequently as we would like, but someone else must have nominated the site. [Our win] comes as quite a surprise,” Müller said, speaking at a recent ceremony where he accepted the contest’s first-prize award on behalf of the Adventist church in Denmark.
One of the decisive advantages of the winning Web site, www.adventist.dk, is its clearly presented plethora of information. “The site’s simple design is exemplary. It provides a good introduction into who Adventists are and what they stand for,” one jury member said. Another noted that, “the site ‘sticks’ to you and just makes you want to explore the whole site.”
The judges, who chose www.adventist.dk above 270 other nominations, were also impressed by the site’s graphics and aesthetics. After browsing through it one of the judges joked that the site was likely to convert casual web surfers to Adventism.
The church’s Web site reflects, in large part, the work of its former webmaster, Kenneth Birch Peterson, who worked with Müller to overhaul its design, structure and contents two years ago.
The two designed the site so “visitors got an idea of what was going on in the church.” This meant making typically “internal items”—such as a calendar of events and news items—easily accessible to casual web surfers.
“The mindset behind [the site],” says Müller, “was to have an open site where the new visitor would easily find information [and get] an impression of a living church.”
As first-prize winner, www.adventist.dk receives DKK 25,000 (about US$4,400), which will be spent on Web advertisements on Kristeligt Dagblad‘s Web site.
Since winning, Müller reports a daily tally of 500 visitors to the site, up from the previous 120 to 150. Still, he believes the site could stand further innovation. “I am hoping with this public acknowledgement that the church leadership realizes the potential in this media and allocates more resources,” he says.
