St. John’s, Georgetown

St. John’s Georgetown is a vibrant, traditional-yet-relaxed church community in the heart of Washington, D.C. To better reflect their welcoming and inclusive spirit, they sought a complete website refresh—one that is modern, engaging, and easy to navigate. After an insightful meeting with Kurt and Gini, we identified key aspects they wanted to improve and enhance. They desired a fresh and modern look, as their current website felt outdated and lacked the warmth and accessibility they sought. The site also needed to be easy to update and maintain without reliance on complex editing tools like Gutenberg.

A crucial part of the redesign was improving navigation, ensuring a clear and intuitive menu to help visitors quickly find relevant information. Additionally, they wanted a dedicated space to highlight the NEXT BIG THING—featured events and key announcements. Multimedia integration was another priority, including embedding YouTube content, showcasing their podcast The Irreverends, and featuring a welcoming video. Community engagement was also emphasized, with opportunities for social justice involvement and highlights of the Lego My Bible program. To reinforce their branding, they wanted to emphasize their identity as a “chill church” with a traditional but not stuffy atmosphere, aligning with their tagline: Be You. Be Here. Belong.

Drawing inspiration from Christ Church Kensington, St. John’s envisioned a layout that was visually appealing yet highly functional. They also admired aspects of the Greensboro Site, particularly its video background, warm welcome messaging, and structured six-box section highlighting various ministries. As a result, we implemented a comprehensive navigation overhaul. We crafted a structured menu catering to various audiences, including college students, young adults, families, and newcomers to Washington, D.C. Essential pages such as Getting Married, Getting Baptized, and Music Programs were prioritized for clarity and accessibility, while a map and parking section were added for convenience.

The homepage and layout were refined to streamline the top section, reducing unnecessary space. A Why St. John’s section was added to emphasize their unique qualities, along with dedicated sections for Your Big Events, Milestones, Your Wedding, Your Baptism, and Funerals. A call-to-action Give button was implemented with a standout effect, inspired by Presbytery of Los Ranchos. Visually, we maintained the church’s core colors—blue and off-white—while exploring complementary accent colors. Imagery central to their community presence, such as the Bell Tower, Third Place, Community Center, and their Signature Front Banner, was incorporated. Engaging video backgrounds and welcome messaging, similar to the EDOW site, were also added.

To optimize event and worship scheduling, a Georgetown Concert Series section was created to highlight their music program. The Worship Schedule was made dynamic, automatically hiding summer services during the school year and vice versa. Finally, we addressed ongoing URL and identity confusion. St. John’s Georgetown often gets mistaken for StJohnsdc.org, the church near the White House, as well as other Episcopal churches in the area. We implemented SEO and branding strategies to differentiate their identity from Christ Church Georgetown and Grace Church DC.

With these updates, St. John’s Georgetown is on the path to having a website that not only reflects their values and welcoming nature but also provides an intuitive and engaging experience for visitors. By combining modern aesthetics with functional enhancements, their digital presence will truly embody their mission: Be You. Be Here. Belong.