Interesting session on communications in the national church
“What is the Church of England?”: “A Christian presence in every community”.
Video created (no sound, add your own) explaining what the CofE is:
and interested in developing this.
The organisation is professional , proactive, integrated, and mission-orientated
Communications Strategy
External context scanning – communicate externally. (EPISTLE)
- Economic
- Political
- Informational
- Social
- Technological
- Legal
- Environmental
Once understand the issues that people are dealing with, can communicate more effectively.
The group had a discussion about what was the SWOT for the Church of England, and therefore how can it engage best?
6-7 million go to church regularly in the UK, of which 1 million CofE.
Website (Audience)
There’s both an internal (staff & regular churchgoers) and an external audience (including those looking for weddings/funerals, non-churchgoers and the press). A very diverse audience, so it’s unlikely that people will agree with all.
Internally:
- Intranet
- http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/cofegazette
- “In Review” newspaper, 2 x year
Digital Engagement is key… It used to be an extra optional layer, now it’s key, particularly for the external audience:
- http://www.cofe.anglican.org/ – 10000 pages, 2 million unique visitors, 150,000pm
- Top 10 (reverse order): Funeral Readings; Collects; News; History; Liturgy; Weddings; Daily Prayer; Worship; Podcast feed; RSS News feed
- http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7153347143
- Back To Church Sunday: http://www.backtochurch.co.uk/ (53,000 attended 2009, around 10,000 stayed)
- Say One for Me (prayer board for Lent,Bishops agreed to pray for all) : http://sayoneforme.org/
- Call Waiting (for those thinking about ordination): http://www.callwaiting.org.uk/
- Ready Steady Slow (advent calendar): http://www.whywearewaiting.com/
- The Church of England Wedding Project: http://www.yourchurchwedding.org/
- Shrinking the Footprint (reduce own carbon footprint of 80% by 2050): http://www.shrinkingthefootprint.cofe.anglican.org/
- Church & 2012 Olympics: http://www.morethangold.org.uk/
- Matter of Life & Debt: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/debt/
- Fathers’ Day: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/fathersday/
- YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/ArchbishopsCouncil
- A Church Near You: http://www.achurchnearyou.com/
Most of these projects started small in a single church, and then the momentum grows – it’s not about picking big projects.
The group discussed a great project with regards to encouraging people to have ‘staycations’ and engage with the local community.
