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Church hands out virtual cards for Facebook friends to share Christmas message

2 December 2007

 

A selection of Christmas greetings cards blessed by the Church of England is set to take the social networking site Facebook by snowstorm this Advent.

With social networking websites increasingly playing a part in the way people communicate, socialise and express their identity, the Church is giving the gift of specially-designed animated cards to Facebook users this Christmas, offering Christians the opportunity to pass on the message of their faith through the popular site.

The virtual cards, based on religious themes, can be sent on with a personalised message and are freely available to any of the seven million active users in the UK registered on Facebook. Recipients will be able to follow web links from the ‘application’ homepage to find information about their local churches and explore more about the Christian faith.

The Church of England has worked in partnership with Rechord – a leading web design agency in London, specialising in social networking and web applications for charities – to create the environmentally-friendly virtual cards. The designs feature colourful animations representing key elements of the nativity story, including the journey of the wise men to see the ‘new born King’.

The Rt Revd Pete Broadbent, Bishop of Willesden, comments: “I think this is a brilliant idea. Like a number of my clergy and hundreds of their parishioners, I’ve got a page on Facebook. It’s a quick and easy way for people to stay in touch and the Church needs to use websites like this to reach out to as many people as possible.

“Christmas gives us the perfect opportunity to get the Christian message across even to those who think religion is scary, outmoded or pointless. These virtual cards are a simple idea but I hope they capture the imaginations of Christians across the country who want to spread the life-changing message of their faith among their friends.”

The idea for the Facebook application follows last year’s Church of England online Advent calendar, which received wide media coverage and around 1,000 unique visitors each day during December. The virtual calendar, also developed by Rechord, shared real life stories behind each window of what Christmas means to people across the country - from a paramedic in Carlisle, to an expectant mum in Wigan, to an estate agent in Tunbridge Wells.

Facebook users can access the application (when logged in to the site) at: http://apps.facebook.com/christmascards/ or can search for 'Real Christmas Cards' within the Facebook website