Once you have gained access to the online Directory through the Church of England Contact Management System (CMS) you can start search for people and places.
Download instructions on how to use the database here.
Whilst it may be tricky at first to use the search engine you should find that this will get easier with time and practice.
There are two top tips which will help you:
- Using AND
When looking for a specific person in the contact search you can narrow down the search by using AND in the search box.
For example if I am looking for John Smith and type 'John Smith' into the search box it will search the entire database for any fields that contain either John or Smith.
If however I use AND in between the first and second name I am searching for (john AND smith) it will look for records that contain both. - Finding all the members of a church PCC
This search is useful if you do not know the name of the person you are looking for but know their role. For instance if I am looking for the PCC Secretary at St Mary's Church in Cottingham. Using the role search page I can find all the roles that are associated with a particular church in the following way:
- Find the relevant church by starting to write the church name in the place field and then selecting the relevant church that you are looking for. Try to avoid using apostrophes as most churches are listed by place name then the church's name e.g. Cottingham St Mary. However if you just type St Mary it will list all the place names that contain St Mary.
- Click on the tick box underneath the place field 'Include posts from parent places up to Benefice (where applicable)' as this will enable your search to include roles which are at Benefice level as well as the individual church, e.g. clergy.
- Now click on the Search button and you should get a list of all roles within that church up to Benefice level.