Adapted from the Office of Public Affairs
The Episcopal Church Office of Communication, in collaboration with the Living Church Foundation, has issued a White Paper to guide congregations and to assist them in marketing and advertising efforts as part of their evangelism initiatives. Marketing Your Parish: Advertising Best Practices for Effective Evangelism is available free at this link.
“We’re working to equip Episcopal parishes with skills needed for evangelism in the 21st century,” said Anne Rudig, the Episcopal Church’s director of communication.
Based on articles by the Rev. Jake Dell in the September 2012 and the January 2013 issues of The Living Church, the White Paper is geared to both congregations that are just starting with their marketing-as-evangelism plans, including websites and social media, and to those with established marketing campaigns who wish to learn more ways.
“The Episcopal Church offers many resources that can help parishes keep their online presence — especially their websites — up-to-date,” said Dell, the Episcopal Church’s manager of digital marketing and advertising sales.
“The White Paper serves as a refreshing prod to think about evangelism, in effect — not in terms of the substance of the message so much as its mode or method,” said Christopher Wells, The Living Church’s executive director and editor. “The how of introducing seekers to what we have to share is an essential piece of being able to share it. And yet we often balk at just this point, not on principle but because we are out of practice; our evangelistic and missionary muscles have grown flabby for disuse. Engaging in the ‘mission’ of marketing thus becomes a kind of exercise, on the other side of which comes new energy, new vigor: transformation, of a sort that we know strikes to the heart of the gospel. New forms of ministry and engagement, new friendships, by definition lead to growth, both material and spiritual, the outward sign signifying the inward grace. As ever, we will be known by our fruits; and, thank God, the harvest is plentiful!”
For more information contact Dell at jdell@episcopalchurch.org.
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
