The Church of England logoFaithWorshipLife eventsAbout the Church
Information Contact us
Media Centre Home
Media

Celebrating 150 years of the parish magazine – unless you know better!

13 January 2009

The Church of England today launches a new section of its website in celebration of 150 years of the parish magazine. 

The Church estimates that the combined readership of its parish magazines exceeds that of several national newspapers, taken together.

Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, says on the new web-site: “A good parish magazine is a wonderful resource that places the local church at the heart of the community it serves. 

“We owe our gratitude to all those who labour lovingly to produce this regular shop-window for their church or parish.   As a team or solo, with a generous budget or an alarmingly fraying shoestring, this is a ministry we need to recognise and to support.”

The site comprises:

•        Commendation from the Archbishop of Canterbury

•        150 not out: A historical sketch

•        In praise of church magazines . . .

•        Tributes from the Editors of the Church Times and Church of England Newspaper

•        Prayer for magazine editors

•        Links to on-line resources

No-one is quite sure exactly when the modern parish magazine was born, but despite claims for Frome's The Old Church Porch (first published 1854), it is generally thought that Erskine Clarke's Parish Magazine of January 1859 probably marks the real start of the genre.

There is great potential for collecting information from site visitors about other early magazines, and the Church of England web-master has no wish to find himself celebrating the wrong date.  So if any readers know better, they are invited to contact him right away!

“These much-maligned publications could be the secret weapon of ‘the mission-shaped church’”, says Peter Crumpler, the Archbishops’ Council’s Director of Communications.  He goes on to suggest four key actions to give parish magazines a future:

•        Look good;

•        Be a vital part of your church’s mission;

•        Know your readership – and encourage them to take part;

•        Work with the church’s other communications channels.

The new site is at http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/diocesesparishes/parishmags/