Church sees rise in people seeking direction

More than two million people have turned to www.achurchnearyou.com to find their local parish church.

The website welcomed 2,084,444 visitors in the 12 months up to April 2011, an increase of more than 28 per cent on the previous 12 months.

In January, the Church’s location database was integrated within the new CofE website at www.churchofengland.org leading to a steady increase in visitors.

A link to the Crockford’s clergy database ensures contact information for the vast majority of parishes.

Peter Crumpler, Director of Communications for the Archbishops’ Council, said: “The increasing popularity of the site is one further indication of the trend for people to use the web when looking for a place for worship, to attend a wedding, funeral or baptism, or to seek a quiet place for prayer or reflection.”

The Church of England has embraced web-based media in recent years. Its Twitter account (@c_of_e) currently has 8,200 followers, while the Church of England YouTube channel has received almost 60,000 views.

More than 550 prayers have been posted on the Church’s interactive prayer website for Lent, www.sayoneforme.org, which is also linked to Facebook (www.facebook.com/prayoneforme) where people are sharing their responses to prayer and encouraging each other.

The wedding website (www.yourchurchwedding.org), created to help people find out about getting married in church, is also proving popular with around 50,000 visitors on average each month. This is compared to the 33,000 visitors it received per month in 2010 – a 52 per cent year to year increase. New visitors have trebled since 2008.