Examining Website-Based Mission Statements of Traditionally Black Methodist Denominational Churches in the Top Ten Cities for African Americans in the United States.

Textual analysis was conducted in order to examine the usage of and messages communicated through mission statements found on the websites of traditionally Black Methodist denominational churches. The churches sampled are in the ten United States cities Forbes cited as being the best economically for African Americans. Although online/web presence was low among churches in the test, findings suggest thematic similarities among the publicly available mission statements. Practical suggestions include training church leaders to craft and communicate effective mission statements and implementing best practices for developing a strategic online/web presence in order to achieve greater organizational goals of access and relevance in a changing society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]