Sharing the Good News
Greetings from Nanton Ave! I am Alicia, the new Communications Director at the Synod office. I’m honoured to be standing on the shoulders of those who came before me, particularly Neale Adams and Randy Murray who each in their own way continually sought new ways to tell the story of this church to the people of this time and place.
My mandate is to tell the story of this community of Jesus-followers to do two things: help us who identify as “Jesus-followers” fully see ourselves as part of the Body of Christ, and give those who are just now encountering the Church the opportunity to meet Christ.
To better share the Good News within this diocese, there are some practices and processes that we will be adopting moving forward:
Newsletter
The timeliest way of sharing news with the diocese is through the weekly newsletter. This is the best place to share a highlight from a recent event, job postings, or news about an upcoming event. If you have something to share in the newsletter, please submit it to me by Wednesday of the week you wish it to be published. Events should be shared with us at least two weeks prior to the event date.
Topic
The diocesan newspaper will continue to be published. To better steward our resources, we will aim to keep each issue to 12 pages or less. To better live into the values this diocese upholds, we will bring some new writers into the fold and create some thematic columns with regular contributors. The aim is to include writers who represent a variety of lived experiences, generations, and backgrounds. You will notice that the document with Topic deadlines and submission guides is no longer on our website. As editor of Topic, I will be assigning articles to contributors, based on a theme or what is happening in the diocese. While submissions will be happily received, there may be less space for submitted articles. If you wish to write an article for Topic, please contact me before you begin writing to let me know what you plan to write about. I will work with you to find the best way to tell and share your story. If you know of someone who has been hiding their writing talents under a bushel, please forward me their name and details or ask them to be in touch.
If your parish has an event coming up that you feel should be covered in Topic, please let me know about it ahead of time. Depending on the event, I may come to the parish to report on it, or work with you to pool resources and make sure it gets the coverage it deserves.
Social Media
Parishes with social media accounts will notice that the Diocese of New Westminster will begin following their accounts. This is one additional way for me to keep my finger on the pulse of the diocese and find stories to tell. Feel free to tag the diocese in your social media posts. We won’t be able to re-share or re-post all posts we are tagged in, but will endeavour to amplify the reach of parishes via diocesan social media channels.
I can be contacted by phone at the Synod office, or by email at communications@vancouver.anglican.ca
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(Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash)