The more, the merrier! Here are some ways to spread the word about The Network to others in your church and beyond.

And if you love to keep score, you can track your progress using the "My Church" page (see the link on the right side of the home page). As you nudge and cajole, you'll see more and more of your friends and fellow church members listed!

Share Something

Sharing specific articles or discussions on The Network is a great way to get people into it. To the right of every article, blog post, resource, and discussion topic there's are several sharing options listed:

• Use the "Like" button to share with your Facebook friends (adding a short comment makes it even more visible to your friends).
• Use the "Tweet" button to share on Twitter or click the number to the right of that button to see how others have shared the page.
• Use the "Email" button to send for friends a link to the page.
• Click "More Sharing" to see other options.

Email Your Congregation (or at least all your ministry leaders!)

The single best thing you can do to spread the word about The Network is to email your entire congregation about it. Or, at minimum, all your ministry leaders.

The Network has something for everyone in your church. That's not just our opinion - we see the clickthroughs that happen when a church sends an email telling everyone about it. One church saw their "My Church" listing jump from 1 to 26 members in a matter of days!

You can write up your own email or use ours. Here's an email we recently sent to all Christian Reformed Churches. Use the "Forward to a Friend" link to send a copy to yourself and then, from there, forward it to your congregation.

Bulletin Announcements

Ask your church office or bulletin editor to run a short reminder a few times during the church year.

Sample:

CONNECT WITH OTHER MINISTRY LEADERS - Have you ever wondered how other churches do a particular ministry? Well, there's a website where you can find out. You can ask questions, share experiences, get resources, read blogs, and more. It's called The Network and it covers dozens of ministry areas and roles. Check it out at www.crcna.org/Network

Ongoing Emails

In addition to the one-time email mentioned above, here are a few ways to remind your congregation of The Network throughout the year. They're in order from easiest to hardest and you can choose based on how geeked you are about this whole thing. We'll take whatever we can get!

• Easy - Include an announcement (sample above) in your next email.
• Easy Plus - In your next email, include the general announcement plus links to some of your favorite articles, blog posts, or discussions.
• Now We Owe You One - If you have weekly emails going out, include a regular "This Week on The Network" section that lists some of the most recent posts. In fact, we'll even send you a list to use! Just subscribe to CRC News and use the items we feature there every Wednesday.
• You Must Really Love Us - If you think The Network is one of the best things we've ever done, you can do the "trifecta plus one" (quadrafecta?). That's all of the above PLUS a special email just about The Network. It's not for the faint of heart but if you do achieve such a feat, email a copy of it to us so we can acknowledge your awesomeness.

Church Newsletter

For short announcements, the bulletin or email list is usually better than a printed church newsletter. But a print newsletter can offer an opportunity to do something much longer. Two suggestions:

• Reprint an article or blog post you found on The Network. Just be sure to credit the author and indicate that you found it on www.crcna.org/Network. The only articles you can't reprint are those that we've already borrowed from another source (if it is, it will say so at the top or bottom of the article).
• Write something yourself about how much you love The Network. Nothing beats a personal testimony!

Church Website

Ask your church webmaster to link to The Network from your church website. They can do so using one of these images: