“Why does no-one ever report the excellent news in regards to the Church of England, and other churches?” is a matter I hear asked at any time when a gaggle of Christians gather – especially following the coverage of recent weeks.
It’s easy to know why the query gets raised. The media’s headlines have been filled with stories in regards to the CofE’s safeguarding failings. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has needed to stand down, after which needed to apologise for his tone-deaf farewell speech within the House of Lords. There are calls for other bishops to resign about alleged safeguarding failures.
The scandals around John Smyth, Mike Pilavachi and Paula Vennells – the CofE priest who was chief executive of the Post Office when sub-postmasters were being wrongly prosecuted for computer failings – have launched quite a few media articles and social media posts this 12 months.
Quite rightly – and sadly – too. When the Church of England or one other religious group fails to live as much as the ideals and teaching of Jesus Christ, then our leaders shall be held to account. One of the important thing roles of the media in a free society is to challenge those with power and make sure that the voices of victims get heard – and receive the justice they deserve.
Trust in vicars and priests has fallen sharply in recent times, and far of the blame for this might be placed on the feet of those that have led churches and Christian organisations during this era. We should proceed to wish earnestly for them – and make sure that strong selection, accountability and governance practices are in place.
“Who is holding this person to account?” is a key query to ask of any leader. And “how can they be sanctioned or dismissed?” an excellent supplementary.
Yet, against this gloomy background, hundreds of Church of England churches, and plenty of hundreds more of other denominations are working hard on the grassroots.
In this Christmas season, the overwhelming majority of churches are busy organising extra services and events to proclaim the message of ‘God with Us’ to the people of their areas. They are working to make sure that the message that God loved the world a lot that he sent his Son to live amongst us – after which to die for us – is asserted in these Advent weeks.
But that is more likely to make few headlines.
Why not? Well, because it isn’t news. It’s what churches do, and what people expect them to be doing within the run-up to Christmas.
It’s just one among those things that churches do that the majority people – and native councils and governments – take without any consideration.
So many churches are lively of their local communities, running lunches and clubs for older people, organising toddler groups for babies and their carers, holding youth groups for teenagers, in addition to running food banks and projects to fight addiction and supply debt counselling…and far, way more. Churches are also involved in providing education to many hundreds of kids.
Add to this the vital role that Cathedrals and plenty of other churches perform in protecting the country’s heritage, or in providing venues for community music, drama and art groups, and a number of the ‘social capital’ that churches supply begins to mount up.
All this, along with providing church services of every kind, including baptisms, weddings and funerals.
Earlier this 12 months, journalist and communicator Neil Pugmire published the newest edition of his ‘100 ways to get your Church noticed’Â manual geared toward encouraging local churches to advertise and highlight the range of services and activities that they run.
Neil writes, “We live in an age of browsers. People flip across TV channels, click through image-based web pages and flip through glossy magazines. How can we make certain our church activities, events and folks be a magnet for this busy, visual world? How will we help our members to be walking advertisements for a healthy, vibrant church?
The guide “gives suggestions and advice on ‘publicity’ in the conventional sense – web sites, posters, parish magazines and media liaison. It also covers strategic planning, the feel and appear of our church buildings, and ways of interacting with the area people.”
Burnley vicar Alex Frost movingly describes grassroots Christian ministry in his difficult parish, in his widely-acclaimed book, ‘Our Daily Bread.’
The Church of England, and other churches, will all the time attract negative coverage after we fail to live as much as our high calling. It’s right that we do, and we want to get well. Safeguarding needs to be a key concern in any respect levels of the Church, with victims at its core.
But, to those that ask in regards to the lack of positive coverage, I’d suggest all of us work to get out the excellent news – especially about what’s happening on the grassroots.
Archbishops, bishops and other church leaders may make the headlines. But it’s local churches and Christian communities across the country – and internationally – which can be quietly working hard to proclaim the gospel and make a positive difference in their very own local area.
Rev Peter Crumpler is a Church of England minister in St Albans, Herts, UK, and a former communications director with the CofE.
