Global Connections and MAP Discourse

What is discourse?

Discourse is our growing online networking space that allows us to come together, connect, explore, enable and collaborate online so that as a network we can play our part in seeing the whole Church taking the whole Gospel to the whole world.

Practically Discourse is a user-friendly online discussion platform that’s widely used around the world. It's designed to make it easy to have meaningful conversations, connect, and collaborate online. Some of the great benefits of Discourse for Global Connections and MAP are that it supports a wide range of conversations to meet the network’s needs, it is easy to moderate and secure, and it is easy to customise. After the first few months of operation, we are very pleased with how Discourse has been working.

Why create this space?

During the pandemic, there was a need for a platform where the network could continue connecting online, in the absence of physical meetings. To address this, we worked with a partner to develop the Networking Hub. While this had its place and facilitated some helpful conversations, it became clear over the last couple of years that the platform wasn’t serving the network in the way that we desired.

We got in touch with users and partners from around the network and beyond to try and find a replacement. The tool we landed on was Discourse. It is quite likely that you have already encountered a Discourse site before, as they are one of the primary providers of online forums. This means that their user interface is more familiar, and the software is more reliable.

One of the pieces of feedback we received with the Networking Hub was that members had to commit to individual forums and weren’t able to interact with others outside of their silo. This made things particularly difficult for people who wore multiple hats. Discourse solves this problem by giving everyone access to all the public discussion groups and allowing users to personalise the kinds of conversations they would like to be notified about.

The Global Connections and MAP Discourse today

We are often asked if there is a space where members of our forums can gather online to keep discussions going. We are pleased to say that there is. While it is still early days for our Discourse platform, there are already conversations going on and people connecting, which is a joy to see.

The heart behind the platform is to have a secure online space where members from across the network can asynchronously join in discussions and provide collaborative support to one another. We hope that you will find this platform to be a helpful addition to your membership.

Our Discourse platform has a few key functions. The main area is the discussion forum, where we have specialised groups for discussing the things that matter to each of our Forums, as well as a few other key groups. So far, people have started conversations about AI, our events, software recommendations, and shared relevant resources. Another important function of the platform is the user list. Once a user has signed up for Discourse, they can request to connect with other users on the platform and start private conversations. Based on the feedback we received, this was an important area of the platform, and the way that Discourse handles this is very convenient.

We believe that this space allows us to further connect and collaborate as a network and to do so in a simple, safe, and secure manner. We know that this platform won’t be for everyone, but we believe that this is an excellent opportunity for those that want to, to connect with one another online.

Ready to join the conversation?

Sign up for your personal Discourse account today and start connecting with others across the network.

Sign up here or contact Dan Challis for a tour. If you are looking for a QuickStart guide to the platform you can view that here.

A Discourse account is available to any mission partner, worker, or employee of a Global Connections or MAP network member. For security applications to the site will be reviewed before an account is accepted,.

Not a member yet, click here to learn about membership.