Christopher Chelpka

Over the next few months at Covenant, we are working to improve and align the various ways we share information at church. This includes how we use church bulletins, announcements, and the website, and more.

Why it matters: Having a good communication system within a church is important. A good communication system helps get the right information to the right people at the right time. It helps new members better integrate into the body. It helps people trust the information they receive. It helps people know how the church is doing and helps enable them to contribute to it’s growth and maturity.

A little background: Our first, big growth-step in this area happened eleven months ago when we began offering everyone an easier way to communicate with the whole church. We used a bare-bones set up with Outlook to make this happen.

Since offering this, we’ve faced some challenges that have generated some great feedback. We’ve also seen and heard about the ways that increased sharing within the church has helped us grow as a church body. Prayer requests and event planning have been especially beneficial.

What’s new: So based on what we’ve learned so far, we are now taking the next step and have built two new tools to replace and improve on our current email system.

Covenant Chronicle: First, we are reviving our church newsletter. This will be a simpler version of what we’ve produced in the past and will be sent 2-4 times a year. This will be a public, big-picture update for the whole church, longtime friends, and anyone interested in hearing what we’re up to.

• We hope this will keep our friends in the loop without sending an email deluge every time we decide to have have a meal together.

Covenant Connect: Second, we have created an online private forum called Covenant Connect. This will be for members and regular attenders of Covenant to stay connected with each other and all the activities of the church. Covenant Connect will provide:

• ways for members to control the flow of information and make sure they get what they need
• improved moderation (most posts generously approved within 24-hours)
• a place for members to learn the ropes, called The Guide
• the ability for teams to work together and preserve their work
• polling, easy site-feedback, and many other features

The tech: For those who are interested, we are using Discourse to build the forum and Buttondown for the newsletter.

Prayer request: Please pray that we’ll find success using these tools; that God will improve our ability to connect with each other as we find and share information in ways that please Him.

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it gives grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).

Thanks for reading!

According to Ephesians 4, it is God’s will that the church grow and become more mature. That the body of Christ, with all it’s members

“attain to the the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

And many other scriptures make this point. For example:

“Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age” ( 1 Corinthians 2:6).

“Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son” (2 John 9).

“Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature” (1 Corinthians 14:20).

“…if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples” (John 8:31).