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- Running Your Church
- Communications
- Sharing our stories
- Communication isn’t the same as evangelism, but we can’t help people understand God’s love for them if they don’t know who God is.
- Communication won’t make your messy church, family service, summer fete or flower festival a success, but no-one will come unless you tell them about it.
- Communication doesn’t make your church grow, but your church won’t grow without it.
We need to tell people about God and God's church, because fewer than ever people know about them. When people think of the church, we’re seen as traditional, establishment, old-fashioned, safe and declining. But mostly, people don’t think about us at all. Over the past 50 years, there’s been a decline in the numbers of people coming to church, and a rise in people who are religiously unaffiliated. This has led to a decline in religious literacy – people just don’t know much about God and the church.
And if we’re not telling the people in our communities about God and the church, no-one else is. On these pages, you’ll find help on how to make the most of the tools you have at hand to share these stories: noticeboards, magazines or newsletters, websites, social media, and your local media.
But it’s also worth thinking strategically about communication. Your PCC or communications group might meet every so often to think about forthcoming stories and opportunities to share them.
- Try thinking about
the most important features of your church; jot down the bits you’re
most proud of. If someone moved to your parish and asked you what your
church was like, what would you tell them? Try refining these thoughts
down to the most important three points – perhaps your church is
welcoming, friendly, and peaceful. Although you know those three
points, people in your community may not! Could you make sure all your
communication and publicity includes those three points?
- Think about the resources your church has to share its
stories. What stories do your social media pages, website, noticeboard, magazine or newsletter, and local media currently tell about your
church? What could it be like? And what resources - time, people, and
money - do you need to make that happen?
- Think strategically about the times of
the year you will focus on communicating stories and inviting people to
church. For example, there's Lent, Easter, Pentecost, Advent and Christmas, as well as Mothering Sunday (Mothers' Day), Harvest, Remembrance and All Saints/All Souls – you may
think of others. But when time and money are short, it can be
useful to pick a few times in the year when you can plan a big
communications campaign to share the stories of your church.
If
you need any advice or help, please contact the Diocesan Communications Team on 01904 699530 or comms@yorkdiocese.org.