Welcome to the Covenant 5 Web site! We hope you'll spend some time here, and that you'll decide to join us in our mission. (Click About us to learn more.) As a visitor, you may view all site content except content posted to private groups. Most groups are public, so feel free to look around.
You must register and join at least one group to post content to the site. You may join as many groups as you are interested in. Just click Sign in to get started.
Posting group content
Once you join a group, go to your group's home page and look around. In the Group Actions area on the right hand side of the page are links to create several different types of group content (under the Create heading).
- Forum topic – Forums are discussions on various topics. You can create your own topic, or comment on what others have said. If you want to get a discussion going, this is the place to start.
- Event – Do you know of an event you think your group members might be interested in attending? Click Event to create an event. Enter the event name, location, date and time—and don't forget to write a complete description so your group members will be able to understand what the event is about. Also add an image or two, if you like. You can also associate the event with a particular project using the Related project drop-down list.
- News item – Use news items to share general news related to your group mission. You'll give the news item a name and description (the item itself), and you can add an image or two if you like.
- Project – Know of a project that fits well with your group's mission? Create a project and enter the details, so other group members can be informed and participate. Enter the project's name, description and headquarters location. As usual, you can add images if you like. Once you've created your project, you can create events and use the Related project drop-down list to relate the events to your project.
- Reading – If you have particular scripture passages that you think would be an encouragement or inspiration to group members, share it by creating a Reading. You can use Reading to share books, too, and you can share the book's cover or other related image.
- Prayer request – Have a prayer request you'd like your group members to prayer for? Create a Prayer request. (Please, no details that are too personal or inappropriate!) Remember, all authenticated users will be able to see the request. When you know how the prayer has been answered, you can edit the prayer request and include it in the Answer field.
- Resource (link) – Use Resource (link) to share links to all sorts of resources, including Web sites, organizations, phone numbers, lists, documents, you name it. Make sure to select the resource type so your resource can be included with other resources in the same category.
- Comments – Comments can be added (by authenticated group members only) to many of the above content types. Comments appear only in full views, not in teaser (list) views.
If no one has commented on a piece of content, there is an Add new comment link just below it. Click the link to add a comment, type your comment in the Reply text area of the comment form, then click Save. Your comment now appears in the list of comments.
If a group member has already commented on a piece of content, a link showing the number of comments appears instead. Click this link to read the comment(s) and add your own. Comments are a great way to get discussion going, clarify information or give feedback.
Content you create automatically shows up on your group's front page—and is sorted in reverse order by date. To view older content, scroll down the page or use the paging controls. Images you add to your content items automatically show up in the image carousel on the group's home page. (The newest 10 images are displayed.) Of course, you can always use the other menu links on the page to view various types of content.
Bookmarking content, attending events, creating a prayer list
You may notice as you view different types of content, that there are other links below content. If you see a Bookmark this link (like the one at the bottom of this page), you can click the link to add that piece of content to your Bookmarks. To view your bookmarks, just click on My stuff > My bookmarks (or click the Bookmarks tab on your My stuff page). After you bookmark content, the link changes to Unbookmark this. Click this link to remove the content from your list of bookmarks.
You'll also notice an Attend this event link beneath each event. Click the link if you plan to attend and that event will be added to your My attendance page (also available as a tab on your My stuff page. After you click the link, it changes to Cancel attendance. Click this link to remove the event from your attendance list. Every event includes an Attendees tab (in detail view) listing all the users who've indicated they will attend that event.
Prayer requests have an Add to my prayer list link. Click the link to indicate that you will pray for the request. After you click, the link changes to Remove from my prayer list. Click this link to remove the item from your prayer list. And—you guessed it!—you can get to your prayer list by clicking My stuff > My prayer list (or via the Prayer list tab on your My stuff page.
Posting content to groups versus the entire Covenant 5 site
We think most of the content you post will be aimed at the particular group or groups to which you belong. After you create your content, scroll down to the Groups expandable heading and click to expand it. All your groups will appear in the list. The group you are currently in is automatically checked. You can deselect this group, or you can add others as appropriate. Your content will appear in all the groups whose names are checked here.
If there is something of interest to the entire Covenant 5 user family, but not necessarily a particular group or set of groups (say, an important event, like the Diocesan convention), just deselect all the group checkboxes. After you click Save, your new content will appear on the Covenant 5 home page, but not in any of the groups.
If you need more help...
If you need more help, if you notice an error on a particular page, or want to give feedback on how the site is (or isn't) working for you, click the Feedback link that hovers over the page in the lower righthand corner. A little form will open up where you can type your comment and send it to us.
Of course, you can always click Contact us in the links at the top of the page, too.
Glad to have you with us!