A quiet season of building has given way to a load of improvements and new features. Here is where things stand with Lutheran Network.
The Lutheran Network API is live. Communities with an API tier can now connect their own tools to the network: read members and conversations, post on behalf of their folks (with consent), sync external groups, and subscribe to webhooks for tracking network activity. This API is documented at learn.lutheran.network. That docs site is the first piece of what will become a wider learning space over the coming months. The API positions Lutheran Network to serve as a central hub for connection and communication across tech initiatives happening in our churches. Does your app need a communication layer? Let the Lutheran Network doing the heavy lifting and do your part to keep the church in concord across so many novel initiatives.
We've also opened a straightforward way to give. If the work here has served you or you see the great potential for this forum to serve our churches, there is now an on-site giving portal that accepts both cash/card (via Stripe) and crypto (Bitcoin/Litecoin via BTCPay). Sound money and settled card rails, side by side. No middleman between a gift and the ministry it supports. While Lutheran Network is not a non-profit and gifts are not tax-deductible, we are greatly appreciative of any support and your giving will help ensure we can provide reliable and stable services into the future.
Community pages have been restructured. The owner's view is split cleanly into Billing, Manage, and Group surfaces, with a sidebar management section that keeps the common tasks within reach. Community headers carry better context, too: location and an external website, where you have one, now show in the header meta so visitors can see at a glance where a group is rooted and where else to find it.
Community management has grown as well. Owners can now delegate community management to trusted members, so the person who happens to hold the card doesn't have to be the only one who can keep the lights on.
Community bequeathal has been reworked. The request can be initiated by the receiver as well as the owner, all groups, members, libraries, and the API configuration follow the handover (so integrations don't break on the way across), and the source landing page is preserved. If a community is passing from one steward to another, the path is cleaner than it was.
If you spot something that could be better, or something that broke in the move, say so. I'd rather hear it than not. Blessing to you and yours this day!