Finding A Church Just Got Easier

A Church of England website which connects people with churches and worship where they live has been relaunched today after a major update.

A Church Near You, which has been in place for around a decade, lists every parish church and chapel of ease in the Church of England with maps of churches and parishes. It lives at www.achurchnearyou.com.

The site receives more than 13 million page views annually, making it one of the Church’s most popular online resources: especially in the last 72 hours before Christmas Day. This is the updates have been made live just ahead of the launch of the #GodWithUs Advent and Christmas campaign.

Now it has been upgraded to make it easier for editors to use and fit for the late 2010s.

Amaris Cole, Digital Communication and Content Manager for the Church of England, said,

“We are delighted to announce the launch of the brand new A Church Near You today! People can now visit the site to see the new design, features and those with log ins can try out the easy-to-use editing experience.

“This upgrade was informed by a survey earlier this year with all A Church Near You authors and other church communicators, to which nearly 2,000 people responded. This formed the basis of the strategy for re-developing the site in a short space of time.

“With Christmas just around the corner, we’ve asked editors not only to browse the new site and ensure all their details are correct, but also spend some time adding their Advent and Christmas services, or updating them with some of the new tags on the site if they have already done so. This year, we’re hoping to help even more people come to church to celebrate this joyful time of year, particularly as part of the #GodWithUs campaign.

“To help editors get to grips with the new site, and learn how to edit things like service times and events, we’ve updated the FAQ page with instructions at www.achurchnearyou.com/faq/.

“Given the complexity in moving to a new platform, there are inevitably going to be a number of issues or the odd bug that emerges. We have worked to help test the site for launch but please do contact your Diocesan communications team if you spot anything so that we can pick it up.

“In the New Year, we will be continuing to develop A Church Near You, to save editors time, and to improve the experience of the thousands of people who are searching for a Church of England church. All of these developments will be based on the feedback of users.”

Three Steps to Help Your Church Make the Most of A Church Near You

Here are three steps we would like you to follow when you visit the new A Church Near You to get your church ready for Advent and Christmas:

1. Ensure the information listed about your church is correct by finding your page and logging in. Your existing username and password will work but if you have forgotten it you can reset it.
   
   Check the data for any mistakes and if you spot anything wrong with the data that you can’t edit, you can report an issue by going to 'More information' and clicking the ‘Report an issue’ button.
   
   There are also new features for events, services and facilities.
2. Add your Advent and Christmas services and events – or update yours if you have already done so with the new tags. This year, we’re hoping to help even more people come to church to celebrate the birth of Jesus by joining in our #GodWithUs campaign. Many churches have already updated their calendar to include the Advent and Christmas services, but if you’re yet to add yours, you can do so now by following these instructions. You can also add events that take place in different locations.
3. Check your profile picture and cover photo. The profile picture you supplied for your church on the old ACNY has been moved over. If you did not previously have an image, we have use one supplied by Google Maps. A new feature that has just launched is an option to upload a cover picture. This is the perfect place to feature photos of your congregation – perhaps an image showing the inside of your church during a busy service, or group photo.