You might be noticing that our church website looks a little different than it normally looks… Well, SURPRISE! Welcome to the brand new website for the Portland Church of Christ community.
My name is Jenna Palmer and over the last few months I’ve worked with a lot of you to get this new website off the ground. I am so excited to share with you some of the new features and functionalities we’ve added to our website, and how you can utilize it to your best ability!
Now without further ado, let’s get on with our new website’s tour!
We’ve Updated our About page
We’ve revamped our about page to include much more than just our mission and purpose. On that page you’ll be able to find everything including our mission, staff, what to expect on your first sunday, and FAQs about our community.
Ministry-specific pages are now mini-Websites for each ministry and include resources, important links, and more!
In the past our ministry pages were made with the goal of being informative to new-comers rather than being a resource for members to reference. This is something we’ve purposely changed dramatically with the new website; we want this website to serve YOU just as much as it serves people who don’t know us. With that in mind, you can think of your new ministry page as your own mini-website of sorts.
Ministry-specific content (such as marriage retreats, kids camp info, and more) can be submitted through the blog very easily, and your content will be up on your page in 1-2 business days. For more information on how to utilize “The Weekly” blog, read further!
We now have a centralized source of official church news! Say hello to “The Weekly” blog.
As a congregation, our source of sharing knowledge and information is spread across a number of different sources. Between facebook pages, email chains, and group messages, we haven’t had a centralized resource for news and updates for a while. The purpose of this blog is to be a source of truth regarding information we want to spread to the congregation.
Do you have news you want to share? And event you want to invite people to? Or even a great quiet time you wanted to share with the body? Become a contributor to the blog by submitting content through the button on the right column of the blog. Once you’ve submitted content, we’ll get it posted between 1-2 business days and it’ll be live on the website. Once it’s live, feel free to share it to your groups facebook page or text chain! Just make sure to share your news here before spreading it through other channels.
You can now share books, articles, and lessons you’ve been inspired or impacted by to the rest of our family.
Did you read a book years ago that helped you better understand God’s love for you? Or did you hear a lesson online that helped you understand ancient jewish traditions more? Do you have a powerful testimony that you want to share, but aren’t necessarily interested in getting up on stage? We have a place for you now.
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
— Matthew 5:14-16 NIV
As a community, we’ve done an incredible job sharing our knowledge and growth in our walks with God to those we’re close with and familiar with. This website is an incredible opportunity for us to share this knowledge we’ve learned and grown in with the world around us; members of our congregation or not. The church isn’t a building, it’s a community, and as such we’re alive and growing every day. Let’s shine a light on the things we’re learning, and allow others to grow with us!
You can find all this content we’ve created for each other on the Listen & Learn tab of the website. There, articles posted to the blog with the tag learning will be shown in a feed.
When submitting content for this portion of the website, share with us how these words and principals you’ve learned have affected your walk with God. Recommendations on what to read are great, but like Matthew 5 points out, don’t hide how Christ has impacted your life! Share with us how these resources have helped you, or how they’ve fundamentally changed your view of God or the community around you! Testimonies of how Christ has worked in our lives speak volumes.
Here’s how you can submit content to the website!
On the weekly blog, you will find a submit content button on the right hand side. Follow that link and you’ll be met with a form! If you want to submit content to the website, write out everything you’re interested in sharing in a blog/article format and then click the submit button.
All content submitted to the blog must be submitted in final form, meaning you must write out everything the way you want it to be shared (we won’t edit it for you). All content is also subject to moderation in order to protect our community as well as to ensure our blog doesn’t get flooded with content.
We look forward to hearing the things you’d love seeing with the website!
You can also submit events to the church calendar
As a church community, we share a google calendar that contains all of our planned future events. However, one of the things you all have requested is an ability to add events to the calendar. Say hello to the Submit Event button!
On our church calendar page, you will notice a large green button at the top of the list of events. If you have an event you would love to add to the church calendar, submit an event request there. Website moderators must approve submitted events, and will do so within 1-2 business days of submittal. Instructions on how to download, print, or add that google calendar to your device will also soon be provided for those who are interested in getting a tangible/downloadable version of our calendar!
Say goodbye to confusing sign ups and event organization!
We’re here to help you.
We have a wealth of resources that can help make large event organization a lot easier. If you’re interested in getting help creating sign up forms, creating a blog post, or more reach out to us! We’ll help make sure that your content is circulated to everyone across the church community.
This website is by you, and for you.
Overall, this website is and will continue to be a tool for us as a community to get together and glorify God. If you have any thoughts, suggestions, or additions you’d love to see to the website, feel free to reach out to us through the Contact Us page, the Submit Content form, or you can just email me at jcpalmer108@gmail.com