According to the Finding Jesus report by the Evangelical Alliance (2025), the top two things people said shaped their journey to faith were attending an in-person church service — and you guessed it — reading the Bible (59% and 47% respectively).
Most church websites do a great job of saying, “This is where we meet”, “This is when we meet,” or “This is how you find us,” promoting in-person services. But how well do they point visitors to Scripture — the God-breathed words that shape, define, instruct, and lead us into truth?
Here are three things to consider when it comes to church websites and the Bible.
1. How Do Visitors to Your Site Find God’s Word?
How many clicks does it take for a visitor to connect to Gods word?
Is there a link, a button, a form that will help get God's word into peoples hands, eyes, and hearts?
Here's a few ways you could integrate scripture into your website:
1. Link to a trusted Bible App such as YouVersion
With more than half of web traffic now on mobile, the chances are high that visitors are browsing on a smartphone. If they’ve got the internet, they’ve got a Bible app! Many churches simply place a YouVersion link in the footer — but making it more prominent could make the connection with Scripture even faster and more obvious.
2. Embedding a verse of the day
Adding a daily bite-size Scripture verse to your website is a great idea, and there are several services that do this. The catch? They usually control which verse appears. You might hope for something like:
“No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us”
…only to get:
“You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!”
A better option is to select 365 verses that reflect your church, its culture, and its values — then cycle through them. It takes a bit more work, but the result is far more intentional. Most good content management systems allow you to schedule these in advance.
3. Offer a free Bible
A prominent button that says “FREE BIBLE” — linking to a form or phone number — is a simple way to get Scripture into people’s hands. You might be thinking: Free for them, but expensive for the church? Or maybe: Should we just grab some of the cheaper bibles with paper so thin you can read then next page without having to turn the current one?
Here’s the truth: God’s Word is one thing we shouldn’t skimp on. Give people a Bible you’d be happy to receive yourself — clear, readable, and worthy of the message it carries.
2. Including Scripture in Key Website Areas
Everything a church does — its actions, priorities, and practices — should be shaped by Scripture. Your website should reflect that. Whether it’s Vision & Values, Beliefs, Passions, or This is what we care about, back up your statements with Scripture.
A quick side note: church websites are often the first point of contact for those new to, or exploring, faith. Keep them in mind as you write — it’s entirely possible to communicate biblical truth clearly without relying on overly Christian jargon.
3. Choosing an Accessible Bible Translation
So you want to give website visitors a free Bible, link to the YouVersion app for download or display scripture on the site directly. Which version do you use..?
Wes Huff put together this graphic which I think is really helpful to get an idea of the landscape of translations and styles:
As you can see there is a lot of options...
The translation you choose should reflect the context of the community you’re trying to reach. If your reaching a community of Shakespearean actors, the King James Version might be ideal. For those whose first language isn’t English, the Good News Translation could be a better fit. In our church, we tend to use the New Living Translation (NLT) — or as I like to call it, the “Normal Language Translation” — because we find it more accessible than the English Standard Version (ESV) or New International Version (NIV).
The key isn’t picking your personal favourite, or the version whose memory verses live rent-free in your head (NIV for me). It’s choosing the most accessible, faithful translation for your context — and making that decision church-wide, not just for your website. After all, there’s little point giving someone an NLT Bible via your website if they show up on Sunday and struggle to follow along because the ESV is being used in the service.
Top tip: Choose a translation carefully produced by qualified Greek and Hebrew scholars rather than a loose paraphrase. Faithful translation matters. Accuracy should not be forfeited in favour of readability.
Finally
In Wales for the past few years, we have had the great privilege of brothers and sisters from South Korea coming to pray with us and for us. One of the reasons for this is the story of a guy named Robert Jermain Thomas. Robert Jermain Thomas was a missionary to Korea in the late 1800's who was martyred for his faith, but the Bibles that he brought with him to Korea were distributed and read after his death. The Bible just by being read led many to faith, and the Koreans who have prayed for Wales these past few years are a result of the effectiveness of God's word to stand on its own.
Lets not underestimate the power of connecting people with God's word. Your website can be one of those connection points.