Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada

Are are you using Facebook in your congregation? If so, how are you using it? I would love to be able to use the ad's as a GIF for the front page, but, when presented, the image is just way too small. I am wondering if anyone has cropped them sufficiently, that they work on the site? Have you used any of the new ads in that manner as well? I think they are currently only available as doc's. Anyhow, am interested in how others are using it. I am trialing. Keep adding people to it. Currently a lot of the people are those youth who are in the city area, now working, but, not back at church "yet"..and the teens.

I am looking for recommendations or discussions on on-line calendars to cover such items as:

1. Recurring events, such as meetings for "registered" folks

2. One-time events which are announcements for all folks.

3. Group events where you are inviting folks, such as youth events or family nights, and rsvp would be appreciated

4. Rentals, which block room availability or restrict usage

5. Reminders -- order curriculum on x date, order vbs on y date

6. Special services -- WhiteGift, Rally Sunday

7. Special / Holy Days -- Good Friday, Christmas, Shrove Tuesday, Thanksgiving

It needs to be something that multiple individuals can have access to update and can get timely information. Ideally, it should allow for room bookings. Here is what I have tried.

We have a contemporary service once a month, and on those Sundays we have our Wondercafe up and running. We put WonderCafe banners up on the wall, and Wondercafe coffee and coffee cups are ready for when people come in. It has made a huge difference in how our service begins. People talk informally in small groups and it really warms up the spiritual vibes in the church! We've started selling our wondercafe ceramic mugs too, with proceeds going to our Food Pantry. So far, no one has said anything 'bad' about people drinking coffee in the church. Eventually, we may do this for all the Sundays - we'll see.