BUILD INTERNALLY TO REACH OUT EXTERNALLY

Abstract

MARIANNE EJDERSTEN [*] AN INFORMATION STRATEGY FOR A PARISH IN ONE OF THE MOST SECULARIZED AREAS OF THE WORLD Churches all over the world today are faced with the same problem, viz. how to reach Out to people who suffer from stress. No matter where, in the north, south, east or west, demands are increasing all the time. Time is precious to people. It is important that churches reach out with their message, offer appropriate activities, and use all the media opportunities that now exist in order to communicate with people. If you are not seen, you do not exist. However, in communicating it is important to be honest and reliable, and not to compromise one's essential identity. Most research shows that churches in the poor part of the world are growing, while churches in the richer part are diminishing. Churches in the north of Europe are working increasingly consciously to come to terms with spreading secularization. Sweden is probably one of the most secularized countries in the world, although it is not that people are uninterested in religion. The introduction of a new translation of the Bible, with 700,000 [1] copies sold during the first three weeks after publication, proves the opposite. Swedish people have a spiritual desire in their mind, and one could even say that a spiritual wind seems to be sweeping over the country, yet the divine service on a Sunday is not the obvious meeting place for those interested in spiritual matters. The church has undergone a large reorganization at the turn of the new millennium. Church and state have followed different paths. Nowadays, the Church of Sweden is no longer a state church but a freestanding evangelical Lutheran community with its own autonomy. It is a positive challenge for the Church of Sweden to be entirely free of state control. [2] 1. Local example in Sollentuna An example of how it is possible to work with communication and information in order to reach out with the Christian message in a local parish can be seen in the parish of Sollentuna, a suburb of the capital Stockholm in the middle of Sweden. An information department of its own For the last fifteen years, the parish of Sollentuna has endeavoured to work professionally with information, communication and marketing. Some forty years ago, the church magazine Kyrkporten was established [3] and its editor always has had a journalistic education. Today, the parish has an information department consisting of one information manager, one person responsible for advertising and internal communication, and an editor responsible for the parish magazine and the graphic profile of the parish. It is quite unusual for a parish to have its own information department. The number of professional communicators within the Church of Sweden has increased during the last ten years. Today, there are 120 throughout Sweden, of whom three work in Sollentuna. The information department in Sollentuna is responsible for providing information to the public, media, employees and elected representatives, as well as other organizations, churches and authorities. The primary work is to give advice, educate, be a sounding board, coordinate and, of course, produce information material. The parish earmarks just over 2 million Swedish crowns per year for information activities (approx. US$ 230,000). [4] The most important strategy is that it is not only the responsibility of the information department staff to inform, but all employees, elected representatives and active church members are seen as ambassadors for the parish. [5] In order for them to carry out their assignment, they continuously receive information and education. The most important thing to strengthen is a person's inner core. Build internally in order to reach out externally! A successful communicator needs to have a sensitive ear, be careful and flexible, and possess a high degree of patience. …