by Brian Smith, EPC Director of Communications

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church has launched a new, redesigned version of its website, www.epc.org. The site features a cleaner and more attractive design, significantly streamlined navigation, and a more engaging user experience.

Additional functions include multiple ways for a user to find an EPC church, a social-media-rich EPNews, and an integrated portal for Annual Church Reporting.

Jeff Jeremiah, EPC Stated Clerk, said the new site is a welcome addition and should be a helpful tool for EPC churches and individuals. “Our staff team, led by Phil VanValkenburg, has been working very hard on this for a number of months and I am very grateful for their efforts. It is so much easier for someone to find what they are looking for than it used to be.”

Users are now able to search for an EPC congregation in a number of ways:

• By distance from their current location using Google maps;
• By church name or state;
• By presbytery.

The map function will determine the user’s location, whether on a desktop or mobile device, and then provide a list of the closest EPC churches including address, church website, and contact information.

“I’m really excited about the ability to find a church by searching for its name or city, or by searching the presbytery,” Jeremiah added. “With just a few clicks I can pull up a list of all the EPC churches in Texas, for example, or in the Presbytery of the East.”

EPNews now has high-level integrated social media functions, which will allow a reader to easily rate or comment on an article, as well as instantly share through a number of channels including Facebook and Twitter.

Launched earlier is a companion site, asfr.epc.org, which is the EPC’s Annual Church Reporting portal. Churches can now provide their annual financial and statistical data online, as well as access appropriate church-specific information from the Office of the General Assembly.

Comments and other feedback on the new site are welcome; please feel free to contact Brian Smith, EPC Director of Communications, at brian.smith@epc.org.