I have realized how much I take for granted the fact that so many internet services are free. Why web hosting (where your pages "live") be free too?! Thanks to Thrivent Financial for Lutherans (and various other services), having a web presence CAN be free.

Lutherans online is a site maintained by Thrivent that has several free services including classified ads, e-greeting cards, games, genealogy research, recipes, branded merchandise store, and ways to connect with people like chat rooms, message boards, even a singles site. For congregational communicators on a tight budget, the web site service is an excellent opportunity.

The plus side to this service is that it's FREE and it doesn't require any special technological knowledge. The downsides are you don't have your own domain name, the page does show the Lutherans Online borders, and it is not the most intuitive system ever created.

My 2 cents in designing your page - make sure you select a name for your site. This makes you www.lutheransonline.com/yourname instead of a lot of gibberish. When viewing the page, the URL (address) will still show up as gibberish, but you don't have to type that all in.

Also, make sure if and when you update away from Lutherans Online or decide not to maintain the site, you take your site off. Having people run across an unmaintained site is not a positive image for your church.

Any questions about how to use Lutherans Online? Post a comment here or contact me at butler@semnsynod.org, 507-280-9457, or 800-426-6376 (MN only).