Are staff profile photos a good idea to showcase on your church’s website? What are the pros and cons? These are the questions Kandice Rosario asked when she decided to share with the group.
She said “pros and cons about having staff photos on your website… I’m leaning towards not putting them up, because its hard to get pics, and…you know, (staff) turnover.”
Our fellow church communicators gladly shared their opinions in response. Here are some of their takes on the matter:
“Pros: more personable and easier for newcomers to see a known face. I am skeptical of churches that don’t, I don’t see the reason not too.” – Jeffrey Salvo, Blackhawk Church
“We made our staff page have a cool feature (images turn to color when cursor scrolls over) which was fun for our site and staff. It’s great to have faces to put with a name for our guests, but despite our 3 photo shoot days, we have tons of missing photos from those who are new or couldn’t make a shoot. We still think it’s worth it though!” – Emily Harder, Gateway Church
“I think it’s all pros. We have all our staff, pastors, elders, and deacons, right now about 33 people. We take them indoors in a place with good light where we can always take them. Every few years we schedule everyone and retake. Then it’s easy to just get them one at a time as we add new leadership. But they all link to bios and it’s our most visited page!” – Amy Warren
Unsolicited tip: have fun with these pictures! Let staff members showcase their personality. Maybe capture the photos candidly at a church event.
“Cons: it’s more work for the keeper of the website. And…?” – Ashley M. Corbett, Straight Up Joy
“Pictures are important. I would think you could ask new hires to submit at least a selfie. That’s what I did at my current church since I got hired right after the formal pictures were taken, and I think it’s a really nice picture of me on our website.” – Beth Lasky, Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church Saginaw
“Pics are nice and really engaging for people. It is also very important that staff feel they can say no if they don’t want their picture there. There are many reasons why people may not want to do that (privacy, stalkers etc.) so having sensitivity is important too, and not making people disclose their reason for not wanting their picture there would be a good thing.” – Elizabeth Payne
“One of our highest viewed pages is our staff page. I met a guest this past weekend that said…’you’re the Media/Communications Director right?’ She said she saw my staff profile on the site. We’ve handed this part of the website updates regarding turnover and such to an Admin who side hustles as a photographer. She’s happy to do it for us. You might be able to find someone to do this for you.” – Brandon Rodgers, First West
In conclusion, most of our church communicators think that having staff photos in church websites is an advantage and that it is sometimes necessary. One of the most visited pages on some church websites is their staff page where people can see photos of church staff and actual faces of church members. Although some are concerned about privacy, consent is the answer. As long as church staff and members are comfortable with their faces being on the church website, then it’s a great idea to showcase them!
