A PARISH has revamped its website as it seeks to better connect with the communities it serves.
And it also has a new name.
The Parish of Finchampstead and California is now PFC Church, reflecting the recent expansion of the patch to include St Eligius, the former garrison church in Arborfield.
The revamped website is designed to be mobile friendly, making it easy to read on smartphones and tablets, reflecting recent trends that show more than half of all website traffic is now on these devices.
And it also has a new web address, pfc-church.uk.
The site went live on Friday, March 18, and took seven months to design, and the team creating it used open source tools such as WordPress. They had a mantra that if it didn’t work on a mobile device, it wouldn’t be included.
On Sunday, the churches of St Eligius in Arborfield Green, St Mary and St John’s in California/Gorse Ride and St James in Finchampstead gave out special pin badges with the new logo on, encouraging people to take a photo of themselves with the badge in creative situations.
One aspect of the new site is enabling people to find out more about the activities of each of the churches. These include traditional and cafe-style services, special interest groups, toddler meetings and gardening.
Welcoming the revamp, the rector of Finchampstead and California, the Revd Dr Leonard Onugha said: “Jesus didn’t have a mobile but I bet he would if he was around now.
“Christianity is all about connecting with people wherever they are physically, mentally and spiritually. If they are using a mobile phone, we need to be there.
“I love people, I love our community and want people to be able to find us if they need help or want to talk about faith.”
A team of volunteers from the church masterminded the revamp, and were pleased that it was cost effective.
Duncan Wood, the web developer, said: “Getting a mobile friendly website up-and-running doesn’t have to cost the earth, in fact we didn’t have to pay for anything more than our normal website hosting and domain costs which costs PFC about £100 per year.
“We use a free design tool called WordPress and use lots of free WordPress add-ons to make the website, it’s all click and drag so I haven’t had to write any code.
“So, your web design team don’t have to be very technical.
“Any small business or charity can use tools like these to get a modern website up and running quickly and cheaply. It’s so important these days to have a clean, simple, mobile friendly design so people can find the information they want, fast.”
And Dr Onugha is hoping that the parish’s new website will make it more visible within the community.
“PFC is a friendly, welcoming and inclusive church, so if you see me in the street or find me on your mobile phone then please do get in touch,” he said. “We are here to help.”
