The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Church in crisis as numbers at worship continue to plummet.
Church’s in-house magazine suggests harnessing the power of advertising
Faced with falling attendances, barer collections and fewer ministers, The Church of Scotland is being urged to call in the ad men for a rebranding exercise.
The call has come from within the Kirk’s own secular bible – its house magazine.
Among the suggestions are clever marketing tricks and a look at placing adverts on buses and billboards to raise its “brand awareness” in a bid to halt the Church’s decline.
Its proponent acknowledges that critics will “baulk” at such a campaign to fill the empty pews.
Only in May, the Church’s decisionmaking General Assembly was told the life expectancy of the Kirk could be as little as 30 years.
The 458-year-old Church has a staff of more than 3,000, including 2,000 who work for social care arm Crossreach.
However, membership of the Church has fallen by almost 20% in five years, from 413,000 in 2011 to 336,000 at the end of last year.
That decline has a knock-on effect on Church finances, with congregational donations down almost £2 million in the same period.
Now in a thought provoking editorial in next month’s Life and Work church magazine, editor Lynne Mcneil says the “clarion call” from the assembly was for “radical action to stem the decline...”
“But the big question remains: is the Church, both at central and grass roots level, prepared to tackle the evident and long-standing issues: too many buildings... not enough ministers-intraining to sustain the historic territorial ministry, declining numbers in the pews and a reduction in income?” she writes.
“On paper the facts are spelled out in black and white, but in reality when congregations realise the enormity of change, it is safe to say there is strong resistance and any attempts to reform or reshape fall foul of fear and uncertainty.
“However with every year that passes the need for urgent action to reform our Church grows.
“Perhaps the time has come not only to look inwards to structural and financial reform but also to look outwards and learn lessons from those Christian churches that are thriving and experiencing growth and renewal.
“Do they require a minister and a regular place to worship or is it a movement, tied together by common belief?
“The question of whether the Church should adopt marketing tools to share its message should also be considered.
“Many will baulk and say that the timeless message of the Church is clear and should not be subjected to anything as crass as business marketing.
“However, clever and sensitive marketing has boosted events run by other churches and raised so-called ‘brand awareness’.
“Think of the number of people who would become aware of the Church through billboard and bus marketing alone.
“A clever marketing campaign by the Church (identified as a strong brand by marketeers) could gain unprecedented exposure both on and offline – as well as reaching out to a new audience, who have never before been exposed to the simple timeless message of our faith.”