It was Bill Gates who claimed that, “the internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.” While the metaphor may be somewhat mixed his point is a good one – online spaces are increasingly acting as ‘meeting places’ for diverse communities.

We hope that this latest version of our website will prove to be just that – somewhere that acts as a bit of a ‘hub’ for the global family that is CMS Ireland.

After more than three years on the old site this bright, shiny new one offers more than just a fresh look – it puts the focus on the partnerships and people that make CMS Ireland a vibrant community of Christians committed to playing their part in God’s mission.

“Our website has become invaluable in recent years”, explains Communications Coordinator Rachel Brittain. “We receive thousands of visits every month from people looking to find out more about what we do – and how they can be involved. This latest version of the site offers those people much more than the previous one.”

Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks.

“The new website puts a much greater emphasis on helping visitors connect with the stories of other people who share a passion for mission – and gives them opportunities to interact with those stories”, says Mission Resource Coordinator, Colin Corbridge. “Blogs now play a bigger part in the new site – giving Mission Partners, Global Partners and staff the opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences – and, through the comments, to begin discussing some of the challenges and issues we face in mission today.”

“We’re also making use of RSS feeds and social networking or online bookmarking sites – like Facebook and Digg – to help people integrate what’s happening in CMS Ireland into the pattern of what they already do online. This means that it’s not all about people ‘coming to us’ but about us finding ways of meeting people where they are – a pretty good principle for mission in the first place.”

“It’s been suggested, somewhat facetiously, ‘Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks.’ Exploring is part of the online experience and we hope that people will find this website somewhere that they can explore easily, somewhere that helps them make connections that lead them further in mission.”

Over the next few months we’re going to be adding all sorts of new stuff that will help to make this an even richer resource for those looking to engage in God’s global story – not least the eagerly awaited ‘inYourEar’ podcast.

So what are you waiting for? There are a host of videos, bloggers, resources and links for you to explore – let us know what you think of the changes…