As we roll into the new year, we’re making some changes on the website and offering some new and exciting things. But we recognize that change is not easy for everyone, and it can be intimidating. With that in mind, this post is meant to address some of the questions you might have and give you a step by step guide for getting set up to get the most out of the changes that we are offering.
At the top of our website, you will see the red Members button. Pressing this button will take you to a separate site that we are using to manage our records and provide some neat features to our members.
The first thing that you will be presented with when you enter the members portal are four buttons entitled, “Connect with Us,” “Prayer Request,” “Get Plugged In,” and “Back to Main Website.” These buttons go to three separate forms that can be filled out by anyone at anytime, while the fourth will take you back to our regular site. These forms serve as the online front door through which people pass. These forms will collect some basic contact information to begin building your profile.
The rest of your profile can be managed by clicking on the circle with your initials or picture at the top of the page. You can also click on the links at the top of the page or the three horizontal lines to see more options for navigating around the site. We’ll talk more about those in a minute.
Your login for certain portions of the site that contain sensitive information will be either your phone number or email address. Once you enter this information, the website will send you a code to use as a one-time password. If we already have your information on file you can continue, but if it is your first time, it may ask you a few questions.
And just so you know where all this information is going, we are using a tool called Church Center (download the app here) from the good people over at Planning Center. They specialize in organizing church databases and providing tools to keep things running smoothly. They have been helping churches for over 15 years and they value your privacy and are not going to sell your information to advertisers or the Chinese government or anything like that. They were started by church leaders who wanted to help get their church organized, and that is what they are still all about.
Features
Calendar – This is open to everyone and is our public facing calendar of events. You can also get to it from the menu at the top of the main website. Please let us know if you have an event that you would like to add to the calendar.
Directory – Access to the directory is only given to active church members. When you set up your profile, you will have the option to choose what information you want to be visible on your Directory Profile. This will only be visible to church members. A site administrator will grant access to members as they join. I would encourage you to share all the information that you can, but especially a picture. You can also create households and share multiple profiles at once. If you need assistance with this, please just let us know.
Groups – This is an area where large and small groups like the Ladies’ Ministry or Worship Team can share their own calendar, plan, and communicate with one another. Some groups are open to request to join while others are by invitation only.
Giving – This particular feature is not quite ready yet, but we’re hoping to roll it out early in 2023. If you’re anything like me, you don’t write many checks these days, but you want to be consistent in your giving to the church. Through this portal, you will be able to set up recurring giving straight from your bank account so there’s no fumbling around looking for a pen as the offertory prayer is being said. Also, when we have events that require payment, this will serve as an easy and safe way to collect those payments in one centralized location.
I hope this has been a helpful guide to some of the new things on this site, and I hope you will take advantage of them as we seek to build our church community.
