Have you have noticed a new look on our website? If you visited http://firstonfifth.org since September 1, it has looked different than you remembered! We are so fortunate to have worked on our new site with FaithLab, a media company that helps churches and nonprofits tell their story using modern tools of communication. You might remember that FaithLab joined us back in October to photograph our community gathered for worship and events. You’ll see those exquisite snapshots of our beloved community all over our new site, as well as new video, sign-up options, quick links to blogs and news, calendars, and more! We trust that our new site will be a robust way that we engage with you, our church family, as well as with the larger community of Winston-Salem and beyond.
As our world moves increasingly online, a church’s website becomes even more central to telling its story to potential visitors and guests. Recent statistics suggest that over 90% of first-time visitors to a church check out its website before ever stepping foot in the doors. Ninety percent! We are a church interested and engaged in outreach to the community, and I give thanks for all the many hands that are making our new website a vital tool for ministry that we will grow into over the coming weeks and months.
With any shift in technology, hiccups and challenges in the change are certain. Ours has been no exception! In the migration from the old site to the new, we know that your experience of the site has been interrupted. We especially know that a number of you rely on our website for your experience of worship on Sundays, and that has been our first priority to fix. We are working tirelessly to get all of these kinks worked out so that you can continue to find all that you need on our virtual ‘front door.’ Thank you for your patience as we enhance our online footprint for you and for our community! For the gift of presence — physical, emotional, spiritual, and even digital! — we say thanks be to God!
Together in the work of Love,
Pastor Emily