Parish Support

A Church Near You

Your Church of England church has a listing on AChurchNearYou.com that you can update. This is a FREE national church finder tool which you can update. If you want to, you can build this out into a full website for your church or multi church benefice, all free and easy to edit, helping more people to find your church online.

Key Benefits

  • Completely free – no costs for hosting, setup or development
  • Simple to update – designed for people with no prior website experience
  • Training and support available – ‘how to’ guides and videos, regular daytime and evening webinars, and a support team to answer your questions.
  • Secure – we handle security and access. Never lose access to your website again, even if volunteers leave.
  • Mobile friendly and visible on search – Google search prioritises web pages which are mobile friendly. Your AChurchNearYou.com site will often appear on the first page of search engine results for your church.
  • Continuous improvement – Editor feedback shapes our development plans for the site.
  • Solutions for multi-church benefices – save time by copying content across your benefice site and individual church sites. Customise with language of your choice (e.g. ‘Team Parish’ or ‘Team Ministry’ instead of ‘benefice’).

You will need a trusted person to register as the editor and there is plenty of support available.  If you need further support, please do contact the Communications Team.

 

 

Register for an account Get Started Training Webinar

Digital Labs

Church of England Digital Labs is a hub of resources, news and events to support digital evangelism and digital discipleship in your church. It includes blogs, newsletters and webinars to help you on every step of the digital journey for your church.

For example

  • Guide to getting started on social media (resource)
  • How your church can apply for a free Canva Pro account (resource)
  • Ask us anything: social media at Advent and Christmas (webinar)
  • How to cultivate wellbeing in the digital sphere (watch on demand)
Digital Labs

Social Media

The Diocese of Norwich has an official business presence on the following platforms:

  • Bluesky
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Youtube

Please do follow for the latest encouraging stories, news and events.

For Churches

Social media is a very public way of enabling us as Christians to live out our calling to share the good news of Jesus Christ. One of its many joys is that it is immediate, interactive, conversational and open-ended. This opportunity comes with a number of downsides if users do not apply the same common sense, kindness and sound judgement that we would use in a face-to-face encounter.

The social media community guidelines below were written specifically for all users who engage with the Church of England’s and Archbishops’ national social media channels, however, they were written and built on universal principles. They are a useful resource for Christians, people of other faiths and people of no faith. Dioceses and local churches across the Church of England are welcome and encouraged to adopt them.

Social media community guidelines | The Church of England

There is also a Digital Charter which you can use as a voluntary pledge on your social media pages, asking people to sign it to help make social media a more widely positive place for conversations to happen.

 

 

 

Digital Charter A guide to getting started Social Media Resources - safeguarding

Church Websites

Your church website is your digital shop window. It should reflect what your church offers inside, the welcome, the service, the church style and the people.

Initial checks

  • Are the service times correct?
  • Are the contact details correct?
  • Is the address correct?
  • Is it accessible? Does it have parking?
  • Is the safeguarding information up to date, including your PSO and links to the Diocesan Safeguarding Officers.
  • Does it have the Church of England or Diocese of Norwich logo on it? This is so that people can identify it is a parish church within the Diocese of Norwich.

Ideally, there should be high quality photos, including people (who have given permission), to show it is an active and welcoming church.  If you need any tips with photography, please get in touch with the Communications Team.

When to ask for help

  • If you are not an expert in website development, please don’t start a new one! If in doubt, contact the Communications Team.
  • If the person looking after your church website has moved on and you can’t access it, please get in touch.
  • If you want an online presence for your church, but don’t know where to start, get in touch.  Remember, a Church Near You is a FREE platform and can be used as your church website or multi parish website. You don’t have to spend money on a church website.