Dedicated safeguarding information box for church homepages
The House of Bishops has instructed all churches to display a safeguarding statement on the homepage of their website.
You can do this by adding your statement into the main Page Content box on your AChurchNearYou.com homepage. In the past, this was the only option. However, now you also have the alternative option to use the new dedicated Safeguarding box on your AChurchNearYou.com homepage instead.
So, if you haven’t already, we recommend copying and pasting your safeguarding statement to move it from the Page Content box to the Safeguarding box.
That way, your safeguarding information will stand out under a large ‘Safeguarding’ heading as part of the Safeguarding box. You can focus on giving a warm welcome in your Page Content box but still give the Safeguarding information the prominence it needs on your homepage.
Online Services Register
The Online Services Register is the digital equivalent of keeping a paper Services Register book, and it works in both online and offline mode. It automatically feeds data through to your Statistics for Mission return, saving churches time at the end of the year.
It will become a legal alternative to a paper Services Register book once approved by Synod in July 2023. In the meantime you can use it alongside a paper Services Register.
Improved Benefice functionality (launches w/c 13 March)
There will be an:
- Option to list services and events at benefice level, to display at benefice level and/or individual church level.
- Option to add more content to benefice homepage.
- Option to swap word ‘benefice’ for your preferred term.
- Clearer ‘Churches and Benefices / My ACNY’ page for all editors.
All editors will receive an email before the ‘go live’ day, offering a demo video and the option to book onto dedicated webinar sessions about these new features.
Church Development Tool reopens for 2023 (on 1 April)
The Church Development Tool can help you find out what your church does best. This optional tool uses a short anonymous survey with your worshipping community to create a report on demographics, discipleship and evangelism in your church. From this, you will receive tried and tested resources that will help you act on what you discover.
If you have any questions, please contact AChurchNearYou.com or the Diocesan Communications team