Welcome to the new site!
Hello everyone and welcome to our new site. If you’ve been hanging around First Christian Church much lately you know God is changing our ministry from the inside out. Maybe you’ve not yet visited the church but you’ve stopped by this website to see what’s going on and kick the tires a bit. In any case, Welcome! Church leadership has sensed for some time now that God is leading us into a new season of ministry. One of the ways this plays out is through our communication efforts. The conversation is changing around here — and that, more than anything, has been the catalyst that has moved us toward a more relational web presence.
In fact, I believe we’re engaging in a movement of God that is being confirmed by other Spirit-led churches and Christian non-profit organizations all across our land. You’re hearing more about “the Kingdom of God” than you are a particular church, partnerships instead of silos.
The new website includes a top menu bar (tan) that serves mainly as a simple page by page brochure of some important and foundational information that many first time guests will be interested in. The second row of menu navigation (grey) is post driven and will change and be updated on a consistent basis to reflect the heartbeat of our ministry. It's flexible, and hey... we could all use some of that eh?
You’re hearing more about helping people in need — both locally and globally – instead of the next great one-size-fits-all church program. Genuine love for God and others is being displayed in more authentic, transparent, and relationally-based ways. We felt it was time our website better reflected and supported our new vision to be “the best source of hope for hurting people” as God lives in, with, and through us.
In a recent Leadership Network article, the question was asked: How are new technology and media shaping church ministry? (I don’t know if technology is really shaping ministry, but I can tell you that it is forcing and supporting our efforts to become more relational.) Here’s the response: One of the changes already taking place is that social tools have created a culture in which people contribute and expect to have a voice. People don’t just post something online and say, “Here is the information.” You post something and expect 20 people to comment on it. In the church context, it is still by and large one-way communication, but inevitably that dynamic is going to change — or needs to change–in order to address the fact that people are expecting to engage.
Call it engagement, interactivity, or participation — the web has changed. And so must our church communication efforts. This new site has been built with you in mind. We want you to share your thoughts & comments, ask your questions, and offer up a word of encouragement to someone now and again. We’ll do our best to engage the conversation online and/or move it to an in person chat at a local cafe if it makes sense to do so. Obviously a face-to-face interaction is best, but we also know that sometimes a quick response or chat online is helpful and timely. In a world of facebook, twitter, blogging, and more we’ve gotten more intentional about using these communication tools to meet you where you are already online. Hoping you’ll bookmark this site in your favorites list and visit often. If you use an RSS Reader like Google Reader you can also subscribe to regular updates posted to the website. We’ve got more exciting feature planned in the near future but we thought we better get this new site launched and get some feedback. So, how bout’ it – leave a comment or question at the bottom of this post. Maybe even share it with your friends.
Below is a screenshot of the homepage:
After visitors see the featured 4 or 5 posts at the top (you can click on the numbers in the lower right hand corner of the main featured graphics) they can catch the latest posts in the left hand column, some important Quick Links on the right or check out the latest pics in our online photo gallery.
Hey everyone… we’ve added some FACEBOOK CONNECT integration to our website. You can now comment using your Facebook Profile. That means the church website will recognize you and your profile… it you login and approve it to do so. You can even click to “Share Comment on Facebook” and your comment along with a link to the article (like this one) will post to your facebook stream for all your friends to connect with. Help Spread the Good News!