I really like church magazines! It’s one in every of the primary things I search for if I find myself in a latest church. And – despite an enormous move to digital communications – it seems I’m not the just one.
The Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell has praised the work of church magazine editors in a special message. He said: “Well-produced magazines can play a significant role in helping churches reach out into their local communities, and to bring the Christian gospel into many individuals’s homes.
“Even in a digital world, paper-based communications may help construct bridges for local churches.”
Archbishop Cottrell – the second most senior bishop within the Church of England – was speaking as Parish Pump, a service providing editors with news, features, illustrations and puzzles, celebrates its twenty fifth anniversary.
He explained: “I’m deeply appreciative of the hassle put in by quite a few church magazine editors, and of the necessary, creative support that Parish Pump has provided over the past 25 years. I congratulate its editor, Anne Coomes, on her commitment to first-class communications through those years.”
Parish Pump has supplied as much as 3,000 publications of all denominations every month since its launch on the Christian Resources Exhibition in May 1999. The online resource usually reaches many tens of hundreds of readers within the UK and overseas.
Journalist Anne Coomes has edited the subscription service throughout the quarter century from her home near Macclesfield, Cheshire in northern England.
She said: “These magazines stands out as the only Christian literature that many individuals ever see, and in order that they are an exquisite way wherein local churches can communicate the gospel to their communities.”
The increase in online communications and the problem in recruiting editors has led many churches to stop producing a printed magazine. The variety of Parish Pump’s subscribers now stands at nearly 1,400.
Anne said: “Each month, I receive news of magazines closing down – but additionally of latest ones opening up. Overall, the trend is downwards, and that is a shame as not everyone seems to be in a position to go browsing. Magazines can reach individuals who would never get your hands on a church website.
“The suspension of printed magazines during Covid was very difficult for a lot of churches and editors. Many began posting their magazine online and that trend has continued.”
Coomes estimates that she has served a generation of churchgoers during her 25 years editing Parish Pump. At its peak, she estimates that around 600,000 people were being reached by material from her service every month.
She added: “Church magazine editors are sometimes the least-resourced people in local ministry. There is loads of help for youth ministry for instance, but little or no for anyone producing a magazine. I’m so glad that we could help fill that gap.
“Our vision has all the time been to make the riches of the national church and its writers easily available to hard-pressed church magazine editors.”
Anne, who co-founded and owns Parish Pump, intends to have a good time the Silver Anniversary with friends and contributors.
Rev Peter Crumpler is a Church of England minister in St Albans, Herts, UK, and a former communications director with the CofE.
