Catching the vision for the
Future Work of the Communications and Editorial Committee – Review
1 Introduction
1.1 For too long the
church has operated with the assumption that everyone knows who we are, what we
stand for and where we can be found. The church is now in competition with a
commercial world that includes sport, shopping and home entertainment. People
have become accustomed to a high standard of communication, reading their
newspapers on line, communicating with their friends and family through
‘texting’ and watching thousands of channels on their high definition TV. The
screen in the corner, and soon to be, if not already, on the wall, may well
become the provider of everything.
1.2 Even the endless
delivery of leaflets advertising everything from home cleaners to the local
pizza shop are on good quality paper, in colour, and produced to a high
standard. What chance the note from the local church, sometimes photocopied in
black and white on poor quality paper?
1.3 This crisis of
identity and relevance provoked the ‘Catch the Vision’ project. Others have
explored how to be church in this new world. In communications, where technology
has grown and developed at a pace many thought impossible, our review has become
most urgent. It is a world of new opportunities and challenges.
2 Communications
2.1 For communications,
with its small staff and limited resources, the task of keeping up with the
explosion of technology has been a struggle. The forth-coming retirement of
Carol Rogers and the need to consider the future direction of the section
prompted the Communications and Editorial Committee to review where we were and
where we might be in five years time. We have been radical. We neither have the
money nor the expertise to do all the things we would like, including many of
the things that we have done in the past. We need to prioritise and finesse what
we can do; we need to make some hard decisions. The recommendations are our
suggested ways forward in the long term – a plan for the next few years.
2.2 Effective
communications build communities. Putting messages across, sharing information
and challenging each other can only be effective if it is put across is in such
a way that the recipient can receive it and understand it. Today people receive
information in small bites, through images rather than words and at a time when
it is convenient to them.
2.3 It is important to
recognise the huge strides that have already been accomplished by the present
staff. The church owes a huge debt of gratitude to them all. They produce a high
standard way beyond the resources given to them.
3 Website
3.1 The website is where
our thinking begins. Present resources have not allowed us to implement the
changes it needs. It does not keep up with daily updates. It is difficult to
navigate. The committee recommends that we employ a Website manager who can
redesign the whole site, edit the information provided on it and keep it
up-to-date with daily updates. It could provide a continuous flow of worship
material, sharing ideas and best practice, conveying important information,
running campaigns, a decent ‘chat room’ for discussions, mediated by the editor,
an attractive advertising programme for anyone looking for a local United
Reformed Church, and links to other sites, eg Christian Aid. Individuals should
be able to sign up to a mailing list and be sent emails with encouragement to
revisit the main website for the latest news from the other committees and from
other churches struggling with the same issues.
3.2 There are great
opportunities that could be explored with an effective and professional website.
Critics will say that members of churches do not have a computer resource to
access this way of communication. Up to a point that is true but increasingly
families have at least one member who has a computer and soon the technology
that we associate with computers will be available through the TV. The committee
is sensitive to the present membership profile and will continue with other,
more traditional, forms of communication but the ambition is that most of our
communications in the future will be channelled through the website. As with
Reform, the committee will appoint advisory Editorial Boards for the Website.
a) Recommendation: to
develop an effective and more professional website
4 Reform
4.1 The committee is keen
to re-shape the journal of the United Reformed Church. During the last ten
years, Reform has played a crucial role in challenging and informing members.
The committee will continue with ‘guest’ editors until the end of the year/early
2007, and once a new Secretary is in place, wishes to pursue appointing a new
editor who will be given a free hand to explore and experiment with different
ideas for Reform.
4.2 Although valuing the
present, we need to begin making the journal one that all our members can enjoy.
Members of the committee would like to see more ‘good news’ stories, regular
Bible studies and a journal that can be given to interested lay people who might
be thinking of joining the United Reformed Church. It might be more ‘Daily Mail’
and less ‘Guardian’ in style (although not in politics). The new journal could
also in future be downloaded from the website. The committee commissioned ‘focus
groups’ to explore how a new journal might be re-shaped and the results will
help shape Reform’s future.
b) Recommendation: to
appoint a new editor to work with an editorial board to oversee the final months
of Reform and to develop a new United Reformed Church journal
5 The Bookshop
For as long as many
members of the committee can remember the United Reformed Church has provided a
bookshop – many of us order all our books through it and it provides an
excellent service with reductions on most products. We may in future offer the
same service through our website or by joining forces with another supplier,
like Amazon. Before we take any action on the bookshop the committee is clear
that we need to discover other possible ways of providing the same service
without ending the much appreciated “face-to-face” service of the bookshop.
We know how much our
membership appreciates the book shop service we provide at special events, like
Synods and National Assemblies, and we aim to look at ways of continuing and
improving this service.
c) Recommendation: to
develop new ways of improving the bookshop service
6. Publications
6.1 At present, we
produce a number of products, including the Year Book, the United Reformed
Church Diary, United Reformed Church goodies, and major publications. We do not
market any of these products extensively and consequently many remain unknown to
a wider public. It is the intention of the committee only to continue publishing
‘spiritual’ and ‘worship’ materials and those specific to the United Reformed
Church. Major books on ‘reformed’ themes will in future only be printed “on
demand”. We have identified a specialist firm who will produce books if and when
needed, single copies if required.
6.2 The department also
produces materials for other committees within the United Reformed Church.
Providing a good standard of design and presentation has been a major factor in
the editorial work of the department. The design team spend a great deal of time
ensuring that what comes out of the Church is of a high standard. At present,
the cost of design comes under the Communications and Editorial budget. In
future the committee will look at ways in which that cost can be passed on to
the originating committee. It is essential that we do not produce sub-standard
work (to remain unwanted in the depths of Church House) and a more robust
attitude to work produced is needed. Again, greater use of the website with
downloading facilities may be a cost-effective way of encouraging individual
committees in presenting their material.
d) Recommendation: to
concentrate on publications of a worship/spiritual nature
7. Press Relations
Until recently, the work
of Press Officer, or media relations, was performed in conjunction with the role
of editor of Reform. The committee wishes to separate these two roles. It is
debatable how much we should have a national profile. There are some who believe
that this work is best done at the local level and we should seek trainers to
encourage Synods and local churches to be the face of the United Reformed Church
to the media. Equally, because of the need for immediate press statements when
ministers have been accused of criminal activity Moderators especially need the
professionalism of a journalist to deal with the media. Undoubtedly this does
not come cheaply. But it is also a very necessary role and assists in helping
the world understand what the United Reformed Church stands for. One piece of
negative reporting can undermine all the good work that the church does. It
hardly needs saying but the damage done by the scandals within the Catholic
Church has had very serious implications for the whole Christian institution.
e) Recommendation: to
explore ways of providing a professional Press Office service to deal with the
media at national and local levels
8. Marketing
The word ‘marketing’
sounds very commercial and not like the United Reformed Church at all. But it
should be seen as a modern understanding of evangelism – promoting the work we
do and encouraging others to commit to Christ. Recently, it has been heard that
the United Reformed Church is ‘worthy but dull’ and that we ‘rent out our halls
and hope’. In other words, we are not an attractive church to join and, perhaps
because, we sit back thinking the little we do (ie allow our halls to be used by
the community) is enough to bring about God’s Kingdom on earth. As a church we
are no longer confident in ourselves or our message. We do not properly engage
with the world because we perhaps fear ridicule (apologies for the massive
generalisations and sweeping statements here). However if we think what we are
and do is important, then we must tell the world about it. The Moderators’
Report to General Assembly 2005 shared the work of the Uniting Church of Christ
in the US and how their ‘God is still speaking’ campaign has revolutionised
local churches there. To be clear about what we believe in, and to promote it,
is what marketing is about. This work is a new area of work and will bring
together several areas of Assembly work and needs the expertise of a
professional. The Convenor of the Communications and Editorial Committee
believes that this work needs a base in communications but is not just the work
of that committee. We will seek to develop a policy and training programme to
improve the professionalism and consistency across Church House and all Assembly
Committees to make us all better communicators As part of the ongoing work in
next few years, a set-up aspect must be included in the budget.
f) Recommendation: to
explore and develop new ways of promoting the United Reformed Church to the
world
9. Staffing
It cannot be said enough
times that the present staff are to be congratulated and thanked for their
dedication, imagination and hard work. Change for us all is difficult and
exhausting. The committee hopes that each member of staff feels valued and can
still play their part in a new look communications department. We anticipate
offering retraining to those who wish to develop new skills.
10. Secretary
10.1 The committee is
absolutely clear that the work of Communications is essential to the inner
workings of the church and vital to its outreach. The Committee therefore has
requested Staff Advisory Group to put in train the task of appointing a new
Secretary as a successor to Carol Rogers who will be retiring on 30th September
2006. In future, the Secretary will manage and lead the department and also be
responsible for one of the major portfolios of the department(i.e. Press
Relations, Marketing, Web or Journal Editor).
10.2 Having looked at the
2007 budget, the committee believes that a reduction of £40K is achievable and
will aim to reduce the budget further to £65K. However, we note that Assembly
agreed the Catch the Vision belief that becoming an e-church is essential to our
further development and notes that there will inevitably be a cost to making
this possible which is not so far in the budget.
10.3 Through this review
the committee is offering the church a new way of bringing the best to the fore,
of building a stronger church by strengthening the links between us all, of
reaching out to a rapidly changing world in ways the world understand and, by
doing this, offering new hope.
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