We are pleased to announce that this redesigned website launched on Oct. 20.

Prior to this launch, the board and staff of The Mennonite, Inc., witnessed several major changes in the consumption of news—including church news.

Our new site design addresses these changes and offers flexibility when further shifts occur.

Need for immediacy: First, readers of all ages share a need for immediacy. We at The Mennonite no longer think in terms of monthly magazine issues or editions, as we know that our readers expect news and information immediately online. This requires a web presence that provides both daily news and convenient ways to research past issues. Our new site provides both.

Information overload: In addition to promotional emails and marketing ploys, our readers already receive a lot of free church-related news online and in print. We all face challenges prioritizing the information we receive in our inboxes.

One of our responsibilities as editors at The Mennonite is to aid in that sorting process.

Instead of injudiciously posting every news item we receive from Mennonite-related sources, we carefully select and edit the material and utilize the new homepage design to highlight the latest stories. We also provide original news coverage of Mennonite Church USA events that are not available elsewhere.

Flexibility: Readers also look for ways to engage with content via social media, as well as a variety of ways to consume it. During a workshop at an Associated Church Press convention, I learned that more people read email on their smartphone than on their desktop computer.

This applies to many readers of TMail (our free weekly ezine). Our new site is mobile responsive, meaning that it is easy to read and navigate even on the smallest of handheld devices.

New structure: Finally, as Ervin Stutzman writes in his column this month, Mennonite Church USA’s denominational structure may change in the coming years.

However, many of the church agencies are already ministering to an increasingly diverse constituency, including many people who do not call themselves Mennonites, he writes. Structural changes offer an opportunity for The Mennonite to broaden its audience.

Fortunately, our new site will be an easy place to implement such a shift, if we choose to go that direction.

We invite you not only to bookmark this site but to engage the content and consider ways you might contribute to The Mennonite, Inc., as a photographer, writer or blogger.

This ran in our November issue of The Mennonite. To read the entire issue, click here.