In praise of church magazines…

A personal view by Peter Crumpler, Director of Communications, Archbishops’ Council.

Leave me alone in a church, and I find myself leafing through the parish magazine. It’s a compulsion based on my belief that these much-maligned publications could be the secret weapon of ‘the mission-shaped church.’

Look at the figures. The vast majority of the Church’s 13,000 parishes produce one, and if each was read by a perfectly reasonable 100 people or more, their total readership would be larger than the daily circulations of The Times, the Guardian and The Independent combined.

Since around 1.7 million people attend a Church of England service each month, parish magazines could well be reaching many more people – and that’s without including the numerous churches that deliver magazines across their communities.

But in a world turning increasingly to e-communications – the internet, blogging, podcasting, web streaming, text messaging, news feeds, and the convergence of all kinds of electronic technology, is there still a place for the humble parish mag?

Based on informal research I carried out with diocesan communicators and magazine editors, the answer is yes – but they will have to adapt to survive. Here are four key actions to give parish magazines a future.

Look good

Just how good depends on the reason for the publication. A magazine aimed at the 30 members of a small chapel does not need to be as eye-catching as a publication being delivered to hundreds of homes outside the church. But they both have to be readable and attractive for their audiences, and encourage them to want to read on.

Look at the best websites around, and learn from them about laying out pages. The best sites seldom have large chunks of copy, and everything is broken down into small sections, with photographs, and links to other pages or sites.

The latest software publishing packages give little excuse for mags to look scrappy. But they also require editors to seek training, and strive for the highest standards.

And it’s not just the words and pictures that have to look good – what about the ads? Why do we always have to have advertising for undertakers? Why not the local health clubs as well?

Be a vital part of your church’s mission

Has the PCC discussed your magazine lately? And do they know exactly why the church is producing it. Is it produced for church ‘insiders’ only or is it a bridge into the local community?

Consider how the publication fits in with the rest of the church’s mission. If the church is organising new events to attract, say, families to your church, or supporting an initiative like ‘Back to Church Sunday’ when people who have stopped coming are invited back, or planning to launch an Alpha or Emmaus course, the mag should give these activities ‘centre stage’.

And if the magazine is a vital part of the outreach and mission, the church should underwrite its cost just like any other important church activity.

Know your readership – and encourage them to take part.

Get readers to engage with the magazine - because ‘interactivity’ is a key feature for all types of modern media. Invite letters, e-mails or texts. Run competitions and opinion polls. Include information about how readers can give the editor their views, and use as many contributions from readers - the shorter the better - in each edition. And don’t forget to include contributors’ names.

Who actually reads the magazine? Are there any secondary audiences to think about, for example the ‘church fringe’; or the wider families of members; or the readers of the copies left at the church toddlers’ group.

Carry out a readership survey. If you are producing a community publication, find out what newspaper sells best at your local newsagent (I bet it’s not a broadsheet).

Work with the church’s other communications channels

If your church has a website, embrace the webmaster! Put in links from your articles to the church website or other websites where further information can be found.

If your church publication is available on the website, then suddenly you have gone national – and international. (But remember issues around photographs, especially of children, and remove telephone numbers of church members, to avoid possible nuisance calls.).

Think even more bravely. Could interviews and articles from your magazine form the basis of a podcast, a downloadable audio file or video clip available from your website.

So go for it! Hard-pressed church magazine editors play a vital role in the mission of local churches. Their work may reach many more people than the vicar speaking in the pulpit week by week.

Sadly, parish magazines are often seen as something on the periphery of the church, a bit of a Cinderella. They should be right at its heart.