Communication Mission Challenge 1 – Install the FCUMC App

Hello FCUMC family!

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the chair of the FCUMC Communications Team. This blog post is the first in a series of what we are calling “Communication Mission Challenges.”

Don’t worry–these challenges are really easy. They should each take only a few minutes to complete. Maybe even just a few seconds in some cases. But they will really bring some important benefits that can only be achieved through such a “crowdsourcing” campaign:

• Improve search engine optimization (“SEO”) for the church’s web site
• Improve the ratings/rankings/score for our church on several very important sites
• Improve the visibility of all our web and social media content

Why do all these things? Because these improvements will really help increase engagement and communications with our existing members, as well as help visitors and prospective members find us. These things are always important, but in this time of “social distancing,” they are even more critical. Please take just a moment to help with this effort.

So this first challenge is really exciting. Less than 24 hours ago, our new Fern Creek UMC app went live on both Apple (iOS) and Google (Android and Chrome OS). That’s right–our church now has its own app! And it actually does some pretty cool things.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it (you knew I had to say that, right?), is simply to install the app on all your devices and get it set up. We’ll walk you through the process here.

If you’re reading this on your Android or Chromebook device, just click on this image to get started:

If you’re currently on your Apple iOS device, you can use this link:

Otherwise, you can open the Google Play app () or Apple App Store app () on your device and simply search for “Fern Creek UMC” to find our app.

Once you have downloaded the app, simply click to open it, and then follow the prompts to set it up. You will be asked to allow the app to use your location data. This is not absolutely necessary, but it will be helpful for some upcoming features.

Next, you will be asked about types of notifications you would like to receive. This is a feature we will begin using soon to send important announcements and other updates. We will probably be changing these categories over time, but for now, just select the topics for which you are most interested.

Finally, you will be asked to create a profile. We really encourage you to do this to take advantage of all the upcoming features. It only takes 15 seconds. Just follow the prompts. If you have multiple devices, you can just set up the profile on your primary device and skip it on all the others. (But please DO download the app on ALL your devices–this really helps improve our search results!)

And that’s it! Now, if you want some extra credit, ask your entire family to complete this mission–don’t forget your Chromebook computer, those old tablets you handed down to your kids, or that ancient phone you turned into a dashboard cam in your car. Challenge the other members of your Sunday School class or Bible Study group to see who can install the app on the most devices this week.

A big shout out to Wes Lennan and the Finance Team for the vision and drive to make this new app a reality. Be on the lookout for new features coming soon!

Were you able to successfully complete this mission? Did you hit any snags? Do you have any questions, or suggestions for improvement? Please leave your comments below!