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Committee Members Convener: Revd Graham Cook Secretary: Mrs Carol RogersMiss Elizabeth Bruce, Mr John East, Ms Eleri Evans, Mrs Melanie Frew, Mr Peter Knowles, Mr Richard Lathaen, Revd Bob Maitland, Revd Peter Moth, Revd Martin Truscott. 1 Communicate or Die 1.1 This was the title of a book published by the United Reformed Church in the 1980's. Its message is just as true some 20 years later. Communication is the word that is probably the most frequently used at all levels of the church, and yet still is ignored by many. The Committee again emphasise that the phrase 'how is this work to be communicated' should be added to the remit of each committee and be part of the initial planning of any piece of work. Among the committee and the communications staff there is widespread expertise and if any gaps are found, the reply, to almost quote a rather old advertisement, is: 'I may not be able to help, but I know someone who can'. 1.2 The first stage of the rolling Communications Strategy resulted in the leaflet Get Smart which highlighted the importance of the appearance of buildings and notice boards. This leaflet has been used in local churches and copies are still available. The second stage has produced a leaflet Get Talking which is available at this General Assembly and will be circulated to all local congregations. Following a meeting at General Assembly 2001 it was agreed that this process will be most effective if taken forward by people in each synod who have attended a workshop, giving help in communicating decisions made at every level of the Church in a 'hearer friendly' way. The committee is now working on the third stage Get known. This stage concentrates on getting the name of the United Reformed Church recognised, locally, regionally and nationally to make the fullest possible use of the opportunities available in the media especially at a local level. Get Known will be the subject of a possible fringe meeting at General Assembly 2003 (when this committee will not report) and the final material will be launched in time for General Assembly 2004. 2 Publishing and Publications 2.1 The annual publication of the United Reformed Church Year Book, Diary and Prayer Handbook continues, together with new promotional material. During the past two years there have been several new publications. In 2001 there were several leaflets and pamphlets produced as well as All Change. New titles for this Assembly and the autumn are Reforming Theology by David Peel which explores the whole subject of theology in the Reformed tradition, Somewhere to Start a book of prayers by Harry Undy, a new anthology on creation and the environment compiled by Geoffrey Duncan featuring the work of Pamela Pavitt, provisionally titled at the time of the writing of this report What a World! Springs of Living Water, five bible studies by John Campbell and based on the much appreciated worship from General Assembly 2001 are also available. New material for elders training has been piloted and will be launched this summer. Other planned new titles include Take, Bless, Break liturgies for communion, and in the series exploring our reformed tradition the next book will concentrate on being biblically reformed. The production of all the material for the TLS programme now takes place 'in house' and the work load of the graphic artist and her assistant who deals with all the in house printing has grown considerably. There are still difficulties in the finishing processes mainly due to lack of space! 2.2 The United Reformed Church Bookshop continues to thrive. The mail order operation is managed efficiently and orders are seldom held up at Church House for longer than two days although some unfortunate experiences with Consignia have led to an alternative carrier being used. There are outposts of the URC Bookshop in seven other locations - an attempt to fulfil our missionary challenge! A new service for local churches offering logo goods on a sale or return basis and also selections of books for special events was launched in January 2002 and is now beginning to be well used. Material is supplied to all Synod meetings. The Books-on-Line facility continues to be popular and has recently been redesigned to be hopefully more user-friendly. The staff welcome all visitors to the shop at Tavistock Place and to the Assembly Bookshop. 3 Reform 3.1 The percentage take-up of Reform amongst the membership of the United Reformed Church has continued to increase over recent years. In the context of declining membership that means in effect that circulation has remained relatively static but even so the continued success of Reform in attracting the highest proportion of readers of any major denominational periodical is nevertheless something to be celebrated. 3.2 Though Reform continues to change and adapt, and still attracts a regular stream of favourable comments, much of its strength in terms of circulation is attributable to the success of the special offer which provides new members of the church with three months copies of the magazine free, without obligation. The high success rate in converting those readers into subscribers means that among newer members of the Church the percentage reading Reform is even higher than amongst congregations at large. 3.3 Since our last report, the importance of Reform as by far the most cost-effective means of communication with the wider membership of the Church has become more widely recognised. The combination of low printing costs and wide circulation allow material to reach members in ways which would be financially and practically impossible in other ways. The Committee were particularly glad to be able to co-operate with FURY in giving a wide circulation to the f2 supplement. While it is still too early to assess the success of this method, it represents a willingness to experiment with forms of communication which is refreshing. 4 Christian Resources Exhibition 4.1 Thanks to the generosity of local synods
the United Reformed Church has been able to be present at the
exhibitions in Esher (2001 and 2002), Manchester, Torquay and will
also be at the Scottish Christian Resources Exhibition in Edinburgh
5 Web Site 5.1 The URC's website continues to develop within the constraints of the resources available. Usage has increased significantly since we last reported in 2000 and a range of technical innovations, including the first use of database-driven material, has been introduced, allowing users anywhere in the country to search the entire list of our churches according to a variety of criteria. The Books Online section of the site has also been rewritten to allow a substantial part of the maintenance of the section to be carried out in the Bookshop itself, freeing resources for other projects. At the time of writing the site is undergoing a technical redesign in order to reduce the time required for maintenance and to enable the many requests for a site search facility to be fulfilled. 5.2 The usefulness of the site was exemplified in the days following the tragedy of 11 September, when it enabled the Church to make a rapid public response in the form of both formal statements and appropriate worship material, reaching audiences both here and in the United States. 5.3 The undoubted success of 2001, however, was the enhanced Assembly Hotline, made possible by a small grant from the Assembly Arrangements committee. The site had its busiest day of the year on 18 July, the third day of Assembly, when over 3300 page requests were made, and numerous positive comments were received over the days and weeks following to the effect that the enhanced coverage had allowed visitors to the site to feel involved in the proceedings of Assembly. In future years it is hoped to be able to include audio clips as technical resources allow. It is also worth noting that 2001's record day has nearly been equalled in both January and February 2002 during normal daily usage. 5.4 As the site develops, it is gratifying to note a growing awareness on the part of other Assembly committees of the possibilities of making material available in this way both to the casual visitor and to those who need instant access to specific material in the course of their work for the church. The policy of the site is to retain material once it has been posted, so that the collection develops over time into an archive of increasing value to the Church. 6 Press and PR 6.1 It is customary for the report on the activities under this heading to lament the studied lack of attention in the national media to any matter related to the United Reformed Church. On occasion this has worked to the distinct advantage of the Church but it also leads to frustration when important initiatives go unnoticed. A prime example of the latter category was the publication of the report Worth Working For?: the results of the major study of the quality of work available through the nation's jobcentres. While excellent coverage was obtained in a number of regions through the creation of tailored local press releases highlighting problems particular to the areas in question, no mention was made of the report in the national media, despite extensive work publicising the report and a successful launch in the House of Commons. In the opinion of the Committee this relative invisibility will continue unless and until the Church is prepared to devote appropriate resources to raising the profile of the URC and to dispelling the widely-held twin impressions, largely based on the unfamiliarity of our name, that we are numerically insignificant and/or not an indigenous church. 6.2 While this relative anonymity often protects the Church from negative publicity, it does not always do so. It bears repetition that the services of the Press Officer are always available to those who find the attention of the press focussed on them or believe that may do so in the future. Early consultation can often ensure that the Church's position is put in such a way that it influences the tone of coverage. Experience shows that where advice and support either is not or cannot be sought at the earliest stage the Church, both nationally and locally, is the loser as a result of negative, biased or merely ignorant coverage of stories. 7 Ecumenical Work 7.1 The United Reformed Church through the Revd Peter Moth continues to support the work of the Churches' Media Council (formerly the Churches Advisory Council for Local Broadcasting).
7.2 Ecumenical News International. The Church has long valued the work of Ecumenical News International (ENI), the ecumenical news agency based in Geneva, which serves not only to inform individuals within the Church but as an important source of material for Reform and, as importantly, one of the few remaining sources of religious news available to the secular media. With ENI's establishment as an independent association, rather an aspect of the work of the World Council of Churches, the Committee has recommended that a small annual grant be made to ENI to support its work. 7.3 Church Publishers Network. The Secretary continues to serve as Convener of the Church Publishers Network. Resolution 28 ROOTS General Assembly commends ROOTS, the new lectionary-based resource programme to support the worship and learning of the whole church community, to all local churches. 1.1 The Church Publishers Network, a group under the auspices of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland have met regularly for several years and have been keen to find a project that could be undertaken ecumenically. 1.2 With the news that Partners in Learning would not be continued beyond 2002, but realising there was a need for such a publication for the whole church, the Network began to explore the possibility of this being their first project. As a result ROOTS, an ecumenical venture supported by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland along with representatives of the Church Publishers has been launched. 1.3 As a result of lengthy discussions Church House Publishing, the Methodist Publishing House, the United Reformed Church, the Council for Sunday Schools and Christian Education in Wales, and Christian Education have financed the setting up of the Roots project. The sum invested by each body will eventually be repaid. A limited company, Roots Ltd, has been formed and the United Reformed Church is represented on the Board. 1.4 A project manager, editors for each of the magazines and the web site have been appointed, and writing groups formed. The United Reformed Church is represented on the management group by the Secretary for Communications, on the editorial group by Revd Tim Lowe and has many among the groups of writers commissioned for the project. |
Communications resolution
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