The start of September 2017 marks one year since the Church Pages Initiative began! It's been an exciting journey and we feel so blessed to have played some small part in helping many churches reach out further to their local communities, and seeing people come to faith. 

The Church Pages Initiative is a not-for-profit project, so it is these stories that encourage us. Looking back over the last year, we wanted to share some notable encouragements with you... 

Working with many denominations

When we launched Church Pages, we simply wanted to bless 'Christ-Centred' organisations and this has led to us working with Christian charities, Baptists, Newfrontiers, HTB plants, Anglican and Vineyard churches, to name but a few. It has blessed us immensely to gain insight into the broad spectrum of churches and the work of Christ across the U.K. For us, if we are ever discouraged by the age we live in, we are also encouraged by the different communities Christ forms and equips.  

Churches gaining control of their online presence

One of our favourite parts of building a church website, is delivering training prior to churches going live. It is here that we get to show a church administrator, or one of the leadership team around the new website and the Church Pages admin area. Through this, we see some people who have never been able to update their website suddenly being given the ability to make changes online, in the click of a button. 

Older generations wanting to reach out to younger people

We have been overwhelmed listening to some of your stories about how you would love to welcome more young people into your churches. And we consider it a privilege to be able to be some part of equipping you to do this. Many of you have realised that this next generation will not actively look for your church but nearly every teenager owns a smart phone and therefore a mobile-friendly website can be one way to reach out to them. 

Hearing churches sharing with one another, about being online

It has been particularly exciting to have churches approach us through another of our Church Pages websites. It illustrates that the websites we build are worth sharing, and even more so the message. What a blessing to hear how churches are working together to ensure the gospel is proclaimed online. 

Church Pages websites helping people find a community, and come to faith 

Ultimately the greatest joy is to hear how we played some part in bringing those outside the church into a relationship with Jesus. Recently hearing Dean's story from Harbour Church Portsmouth was just fantastic and there was much rejoicing in the office. Whilst Church Pages is not profit-making, news of salvation is worth everything. So please keep your stories coming! 

What's next?

Looking to the year ahead, the same passion that drove us to start Church Pages is still strong and we are excited to see where this Initiative will take us. Do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or topics you'd like us to be speaking about, as we'd like to continue to equip churches to serve their communities online. 

And of course, if you do need a responsive website that you can use to reach your community for Christ, we'd love to hear from you.