Bishop calls on churches to communicate Good News

The Bishop of Wolverhampton is encouraging Christians to follow the example set by MPs in the General Election and let locals know of the good the church is doing.

The Rt Rev Clive Gregory told the Lichfield Diocesan Synod of how impressed he had been by a colour leaflet he had received from one candidate in the run up to the elections, which featured photos of constituents and quotes testifying to how well they had been served by their MP.

Now he wants to see churches issue their own high quality colour leaflets telling parishioners all the ‘good news’ stories happening in their parishes.

"There is no reason why churches should not produce similar material which will convey the reality that churches are dynamic places where good things happen and lives are changed," he said.

He praised churches that were tapping into imaginative ways of communicating with people online, particularly youths.

The bishop said: "Without question the most far-reaching societal change in the last generation has been the communications revolution and the effective use of modern media offers exciting possibilities for spreading the Gospel.

"It is a nettle that has to be grasped, for traditional means of communicating the place of religious belief and practices are disappearing.”

He went on to say that the Church must take responsibility for the extent of bad church news dominating headlines instead of the good news.

“It might be argued that this is the result of a national media which is increasingly unsympathetic to organised religion, and while there may be truth in that assertion, there is a bigger picture to consider," he said.

“Part of that picture is of course the need to acknowledge that the body of Christ is fractured by significant divisions within the Anglican Communion and within the Church of England.

"Furthermore, within a fallen world, there will always be instances of individual, perhaps institutional, behaviour which lead to scandal or offence. We cannot therefore abdicate responsibility for the press we receive.”

Bishop Gregory admitted the Church had a "major challenge" on its hands in getting positive coverage in the media, but singled out the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu as one example of a Church figure attracting the sort of positive news coverage that "well serves the Church’s mission and proclamation of the Good News”.

He contended, however, that it was churchgoers and leaders and the local level who could make the real difference in terms of what kind of coverage the Church receives, noting that local newspapers were generally "warm" to church stories.

“Our local broadcast media too are not afraid to cover good religious stories [and] have good working relationships with the diocese. But they need us to tell them what we’re doing. We don’t have to settle for short paragraphs in free newspapers advertising the latest jumble sale in a church hall near you."

He warned churches against being complacent when it came to communicating the Good News, saying that every church needed to have a strategy for telling people about what they were doing.

“I would argue that the telling of stories about what God is doing in the lives of individuals, and in communities, through the agency of the local church, should be a top priority within the mission strategy of every church in the diocese," he said.

"Just as we are belatedly realising that living in a post-Christian culture means that very few people have the faintest idea of basic Christian beliefs and practices, so I am sure that very few people have any idea of what the life of a Christian community can offer.

"For many, no doubt, ‘church’ equals ‘what the vicar does’ and the services that are put on for people to attend.

“There is a huge communications challenge that faces us, and every church should be seeking to meet it with a strategy.”

He urged parishes to appoint communications officers with responsibility to identify and disseminate good news stories, saying: “The imperative to communicate lies at local level, which is where the best stories are to be found and the clearest evidence of God at work.

“Jesus taught the Gospel by story telling, to people within earshot. We have the stories and we can bring many people within earshot if we use modern media effectively. ‘Let’s go forth and tell.’”