St Margaret's Church in Rainham, Kent is advertising for a journalist to join their staff team. The advert for the position states, "For thousands of years, it is storytelling which has kept communities together. Now, more than ever before we need someone like you to tell our stories so that we might stay together even when physically we are apart."
The job title may not be revolutionary, but the prioritisation of storytelling goes back millennia. Whether it be the people of Israel telling stories to subsequent generations of their liberation from slavery, or Jesus telling stories that explained the Kingdom of Heaven, stories have always been at the core of faith communities, their relationship with God and their desire to share the 'good news' with others.
Why then, does it come as such a surprise that a local English church is pursuing the employment of a journalist?
It seems to me that, while we have never lost the desire and focus to tell stories, we have become too comfortable in telling those stories to ourselves.
Reading through the New Testament it is clear that through Jesus' ministry and Paul's missionary travels, the story of the church was never intended to be restricted to an echo chamber or a 'Christian bubble'. But if we were to have an honest reflection on the current landscape, most of the stories of spiritual transformation and social impact coming from the Church are only being told within the Church.
The mission of the Church is to serve those outside it. To go to the hungry, the marginalised, the lonely and the fearful, to show love in action and share the good news of Christ.
But when it comes to telling the story of the Church, that 'outside' audience is often largely unaware of the activity of Christians and the impact they are having on their local community and national agenda.
We work with Christian ministries, charities and churches to help tell the story of the Church to a wider audience.
Some of those we work with are nervous about 'blowing their own trumpet', others are fearful that the media might misrepresent their words, and still others believe the media are irrelevant in telling their story.
However, as the vicar at St Margaret's has identified, we are living in a time of opportunity for the Church. 2020 has presented a series of world-changing events that have brought much fear, uncertainty and isolation. The world needs a Church confident in its message, because if the message of the Church is true, it is message that would transform our communities and bring a hope, peace, and purpose that only God can bring.
Not only that, but the media is changing. Because there is so much uncertainty, many media outlets have assigned journalists the beat of 'good news' - mainstream, secular media agencies are looking for good news.
We have seen national headlines reporting that a quarter of the country are watching church online, that people are turning to prayer, and that the church is in action up and down the country serving vulnerable families through food banks and other provisions.
I'm not usually one for hyperbole or hype, but in my mind there is no doubt we have a moment here. There is an opportunity. Theologians and historians have often said that revival is experienced in close proximity to crises. Something is changing.
But the Church must be prepared and willing to engage with national, regional and sector media if we are going to share the message of hope that we carry with those outside our community. We need to train ourselves: understanding how the media works; when journalists are on deadline; what information, images and contact details do they need to run a story; what is newsworthy and what is not?
We need to build relationships with media - we say on a weekly basis how important relationships are within our churches, and yet we have often failed to reach out and understand who our local media are and how we can be serving them.
And finally we need to be confident in the stories we are telling. Jesus never apologised for his message - why? Because he knew it was the truth, he knew it would transform and he knew it would bring hope and restoration to whomever it was shared with.
We have that same message, but we are living in what my friend David Kinnaman (Barna Research) calls 'Digital Babylon'.
It is the same message, but it is a message that is counter cultural to the world around us.
At least for now.
You see, it seems to be that secularism has failed. Materialism has failed. People inside and outside the Church are coming to the realisation that the pursuit of individualism and possessions does not bring the fulfilment that all of us crave so deeply.
The world needs a new narrative. It needs a story of community. It needs a story of hope. It needs a story of salvation.
The question is, are we willing to share it?
Gareth Russell is Managing Director of Jersey Road PR.
