UMC.org Community

As we are committed to bringing you news about all types of information, here is another e-mail announcement the church library received from UMC.org:

One of the most exciting features of the redesigned UMC.org, the Web site of the people of The United Methodist Church, is the new Community section—the first large-scale social networking site developed by a mainline denomination. Hundreds of people have already signed up to participate in a global dialogue on topics of faith and service.

UMC.org is not only a great way for you to connect with other people of faith from around the world, but it’s also an opportunity to further enhance your own congregation’s community. By forming an online village for your church on UMC.org, you can help members keep in touch between services, get updates if they miss a service or event, and find local volunteer opportunities, just to name a few possibilities.

UMC.org Community is also a great way for to reach the young members of your church who are familiar with other popular social networks such as MySpace and Facebook. The difference at UMC.org community is the commitment to online safety and mutual respect.

The online community, developed by Brick River Technologies, has filters that edit out offensive language, a minimum age requirement of 13 years old, security technology review by senior professionals, manual review of photo and video content, and a self-monitoring approach that allows users to flag the content of inappropriate posts for review by an administrator.

Setting up a village on the UMC.org Community is simple:

At www.UMC.org, click on “Connect” to create a Community profile.
From your Dashboard home, select “Create a Village” from the menu on the left.
Complete the easy online form by choosing a name for your village and selecting settings to make the group either private or open to the public.
Invite members of your church to join your village and become part of your online community.

The UMC.org Community is an innovative new way to stay connected with the church, and United Methodist Communications encourages you be among the first to join the online dialogue. Please create a profile at www.UMC.org today.

We hope that you will join the UMC.org Community and share this information with members of your church. To download a UMC.org Community bulletin insert and sample service announcement, visit www.UMC.org/Launch.