How and when did the website come about?
After the St. James's Day Parish Communion on 25th July 2000 Bishop Michael of Kensington officially launched St. James's Church website. Before he pressed the button, he and members of the congregation were given a brief tour of the new website, watching on a large screen. The site was made by a member of the congregation with a big imput from Hampton-on-Line. Later the website was given its own domain and gradually, during the following few years, many changes and improvements were made which turned the website into its current form.

Why have a website?
St. James's Church Website exists to further our Church's mission to 'Build the kingdom of God on earth, and particularly here in Hampton Hill' by providing information about our church and its activities and by stimulating reflection on our Christian values. The website is a most effective way of promoting or 'advertising' to let people know St. James’s exists, offering an insight into the life and work of the church, its location, activities, special events and regular services. Increasingly, people are finding our website using a search engine and so in this way the website has become an integral part of our church's outreach to the local community and beyond by being informative, instructive and educational, now averaging over 10,000 visits a month. We welcomed visitors from over 25 countries in March 2010 with 11,167 actual visits to the website.

Who is the website for?
There are different groups of people that our website tries to cater for:
• The website aims to serve the needs of our congregation by providing up-to-date details of services and other events. They can find information at any time of the day or night from any computer, enabling them to keep in touch throughout the week, wherever they are.
• The website might be the first point of contact for people in the local community that do not yet go to church. It provides an ideal way to find out about the church and the Christian faith, anonymously. The visitors page describes what goes on inside our church, what to expect when visiting and encourages people to feel secure enough to take the next step.
• People new to the area can use the website to find out all about the church before even setting foot in it.
• More and more people are looking at the website to find out about using the church for baptism, confirmation, marriage and funerals/interment of ashes.
• Increasingly people are using the website’s online form for booking the church and hall for private functions or concerts, etc. The calendar/diary records dates and times of services and other events so people can check for hall booking availability.
• The online searchable database of the Churchyard Records is used by relatives and friends of the deceased buried in St. James's Churchyard who wish to find details of the burial. They are also for those interested in the history of the Churchyard and the Hampton Hill area, and possibly for other research.
• Many different people look through the website searching for information about a particular aspect of Christianity or the church. Sunday school teachers, school teachers, etc. use the site to help their lessons.

What is in the website
• The home page is kept up-to-date with what is happening in and around the church. There is access to the current Spire magazine and pew sheet, the on-line calendar/diary, a form for booking the church and hall, forthcoming events, notices, churchyard records, getting married, the St. James's Ark group for carers and toddlers, parish of St James and our patron saint, Saint James.
• There are ten informative, illustrated sections in the website - church & grounds, groups, music, running the church, history, St James's Images, Spire magazine, witness/mission/outreach, worship and services and Young St James’s.
• There is a whole section containing pages of helpful information – new to the site, where we are, directions, contacts, glossary, site map (where you can see the whole of the site broken down into sections) and how to use this site and the web generally.

How do I get around the site?
On every page in the website, including the home page, there is a navigation bar down the left-hand side to take you to every section in the website and each particular section's home page doubles as a section index. Within most sections, there is also a navigation bar along the top of the page containing the main pages in that section. This will enable you to go from page to page within that section without having to return to the section's home page. Occasionally there are extra navigation bars which are self-explanatory.

Is there anything for young people?
There is a complete section called ‘Young St. James’s’ which almost mirrors the main site but designed with youngsters in mind. The aim of this section is to encourage the youngsters of our parish and community, this being an important part of our mission. There is also a part explaining the different parts of the Church Year and an increasing number of quizzes and other things to do, both on and off line. Our Jays Sunday School has several pages and our St. James’s Ark for carers and toddlers also has a presence.

What is the latest development?
All the Spire Magazines dating back to 1884, when they started, have now been scanned and uploaded on to the website for anybody to read at any time.

What future developments are planned?
• A page with photographs to identify some church members with specific roles.
• A page to give the church a sense of identification with the local community, in terms of secular news, notices, photos and links.
• Social networking will be investigated.
• A page to support recovery from life problems.

Please support the website and pray for its effective outreach. Tell people about it and encourage them to use it.

Source: Prill Hinckley, The Spire Magazine - 2010 July