A guest post by Howard Kessa of Floulex Web, who built this website.
Liberty Fellowship Ministry is an independent church in Montgomery, Alabama, meeting at 3145 Mace St and led by Pastor Annie E. F. Woods. When I build a website for a church, I start with one question: what does a stranger need to know before they feel ready to walk in on a Sunday? Pastor Woods answered that question for me in her own words, and this site is built on her answers. Here is what I learned, and why the site looks the way it does.
A church in Montgomery since 1998
The church began in 1998 under the name Faith and Works House of Prayer. In 2013 the name changed to Liberty Fellowship Ministry. It is an independent church, and it is also part of a wider network of churches, so it stands on its own feet without standing alone. You can read the story on the About us page.
That history matters on a website. A church that has been serving for more than twenty-five years has nothing to prove with flashy pages, so I kept this one plain, warm and easy to read.
Meet Pastor Annie E. F. Woods
Pastor Woods was born and raised in Montgomery. Her background is in the Pentecostal, Methodist and Baptist churches. Asked to describe herself, she gave one line that I could not improve on: “Holiness over happiness, commitment, compassion and consistency in living righteous.” It is on her page, Our pastor, exactly as she wrote it.
Deacon Calvin Woods, Sr. serves the church as a deacon, and he has his own place on the About us page too.
What to know before your first Sunday
Most people decide whether to visit a church on their phone, late in the week, after reading a website for less than a minute. So the facts a first-time visitor needs are right at the top of the home page and on the Plan a visit page:
- Sunday School starts at 11:00 AM, and the worship service starts at 12:00 PM.
- There is no service on a 5th Sunday. That day is for visiting with family and friends.
- Children stay in the service with everyone else.
- People wear a mix of everything, so wear what you are comfortable in.
- There is no specific parking area, and Pastor Woods is usually the first one at church.
The 5th Sunday rule is the kind of detail that is easy to miss and costly for a visitor who misses it, so the home page works it out for you. It shows the date of the coming Sunday and tells you when that Sunday is a 5th Sunday.
More than Sunday morning
Liberty Fellowship Ministry meets on every day of the week. Bible Reading and Discussion happens Monday to Saturday in the morning, and again on Sunday night at 7:00 PM. Bible Study is on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month at 7:00 PM. And on the 1st Thursday of every month, the church volunteers at a food bank.
Because there is so much going on, I laid the whole week out as a week, one day beside the next, with today marked. You can see it on the During the week page.
What the church believes
A church’s beliefs belong in its own words, never in a web designer’s summary. The full Statement of Faith is on the What we believe page, word for word as the church wrote it, with the Scripture behind each part. It begins: “We believe the Bible to be the only inspired, trustworthy and true, without error, Word of God.”
Finding Liberty Fellowship Ministry in Montgomery
The church is at 3145 Mace St, Montgomery, AL 36108. There is a map on the home page, on Plan a visit and on the contact page, with a link that opens directions on your phone. If you have a question before you come, the Contact us page has a short form where you can ask it.
If you live in Montgomery and have been looking for a church home, I hope this site makes the first step a little easier. Building it was a privilege. This website was built by Howard Kessa of Floulex Web.