Producing a Parish Paper

Introduction
      A church that wants to get into the marketplace and display its wares will set aims and objectives, assess budget capabilities, form a management and editorial team, opt for a publication format, set the content requirements, source material, assemble the equipment, produce a master, publish and distribute.
 
Aims and objectives
      Management by objectives is one of those business methodologies that moves in and out of favour at the whim of this year's business guru. Still, there is no better way to undertake any project than to determine the ultimate purpose and direction of the project (the aims) and the practical goals necessary to move the project forward (the objectives).
      A church will often come up with a number of aims ordered according to importance. For example, the prime aim may be to communicate the gospel. This aim would be met by making sure the gospel is outlined in the publication in different ways. A secondary aim may be to promote the church in the local community. This aim would be met by seeing that the life of the church is well presented in the magazine.
      It's important to know where we are going before we set out on the journey.
 
Budget
      A publication for wide distribution becomes uneconomical when reproduced on a photocopier. Offset is best for long runs and as few churches own an offset printer it will be necessary to go to a commercial printing house. The advantage is that they will fold and cut to size. Costs can be kept to a minimum by sticking with a black and white publication of minimal size. For printing efficiency a 32 page A5 is best, but a half sheet 16 page A5 is probably a better compromise. With this size stitching is not necessary and this greatly reduces cost. Check with your printer on sheet size as most commercial printers use a paper size that doesn't quite cut to A5. There is waste in the height, but you will lose 8cm on the width. In Australia the cost is about 10 cents per copy. Distribution costs are reduced when church members volunteer to deliver in their area. Areas not covered can be sourced out at a fee. The going rate is about 4 cents per copy.
 
Editorial team
      Whatever form of government a church takes, the ultimate responsibility for the production of the church magazine should remain in the hands of those in authority. They in turn appoint an editorial team that handles the business of production. If the production is yearly it is easy for a draft to be presented to the church wardens/elders/decons... for their approval.
 
Format
      A number of churches have experimented with a newspaper broadsheet format. The trouble is this is not cheep to print and requires multiple pages to look and feel substantial. Remember, newspapers are used line the bottom of the parrot cage the next morning.
      The small A5 magazine format is used by many organizations, both religious and secular. People feel comfortable with this style of publication and keep it on their bits and pieces reading table for many days. Although the monograph/tract format is quite traditional, there is really nothing much to better it. Certainly a full size American Letter (AQ) magazine format would be beyond the budget of most churches and difficult to put into people's letter boxes.
 
Contents
      The content of a Parish Paper is determined by the aims of the publication. The following are just some possibilities from which to select:

• The Minister's Letter. I am sad to say that not too many people read this little piece - "At the office desk", "The Rector's Letter", "Father John's Message", etc. A Parish magazine wouldn't be complete without this little introduction piece. The inside cover (p2) is the best place for it.
• Parish Ministry. A list of Sunday Services, Mid week services, and Occasional Services. A friendly welcome should be offered. A little outline of the service for the unchurched person is helpful. With Occasional services we need to remember that people are increasingly uneasy about approaching their local church for baptisms, weddings and funerals. If the church has an open policy toward nominal people, it should be emphasized. Something like "St.George's warmly invites you to use the church for your baptism/naming/dedication, wedding or for a family funeral, whether you are a member or not." This section is good for a page 3 spread.
• Articles. Again these will reflect the aims of the publication. Use articles by, or about, local or national identities, to maintain interest, and Illustrate where possible. Use visual material, e.g. "The Face", see below. Where a gospel thrust is intended, use a simple point by point gospel outline for at least one of the articles. An illustrated version is even better. Social issues and church politics are of interest, especially when recently covered in the local press. Some sample articles can be accessed at the bottom of this page. The "Just a Moment" mini sermons on the index page may be of use. Fun articles with a message are of value. These can stand a double page spread. My own version was called The Parson's Nose. This was a light-hearted examination of some of our "peculiarities", and we are a "peculiar" people! Feel free to rework them and make them your own.
• Church News. People love to read about the fete, the parish picnic etc. Make a point of naming names. People love to read about personalities. This is good for a double page spread in the middle (p8, 9).
• Free Offer. Only in the last ten years have we had gospel videos cheep enough and worthy enough to hand out to interested people in the wider community. Bill Bright was the first to present a professional half hour video gospel presentation, and others have followed. A cut out free offer of a video, posted, with the guarantee of no personal door to door visit unless requested, is an excellent way of furthering a gospel impact in the magazine.
• Service Outline. Due to the increasing number of unchurched people in our community, it is worth explaining the main Sunday service in an annotated service outline - when to stand, what to say and do, what is involved, who says what, etc. This removes the mystery which keeps many people away from church.
• The Register. People love to check through the "hatched, matched and dispatched." I guess we like to know we are not in the dispatched column.
• Parish Organizations. A list of what's going on in the church. Sadly it is probably unwise to put in the phone numbers of organization leaders these days. The church office is the best contact point. Meeting times, activities, etc. are worth listing.
• Church Programme. It takes quite an effort to program for the whole year, but it can be done when the publication date for a yearly magazine is say late January. This is best placed in the back section of the magazine.
• The Church Year. The calendar for the Church Year with sermon/teaching topics is again a difficult one to organize, but well worth the effort. I am sure few read this type of information, but it says much about the church and is most useful for church members. Again, this is best toward the back of the magazine.
• Stuff and Nonsense. A back page collection of crazy quotes and cartoons.
• Advertisements. Small block advertisements at the bottom of some pages can serve as fill and at the same time help to finance publication. Local trades and retailers often like to advertise in community publications, especially when they cover every household in the district. A 16 page A5 publication at $1600 equates to $100 per page. A 25% potential page advertisement @ $100 produces 4 blockes @ $25 each.

Sources
      Hopefully, the Minister or the Editor can put a sentence together. For articles, go for quality. Don't hesitate sourcing articles from the internet or print media. If appropriate give due recognition, but at the same time edit, alter or rewrite. I can't see the problem with using material from a brother for eternal purposes. For example, anything from this site can be used to that end anyway you wish. Make it yours and put your own name on it.
 
Equipment Requirements
      The chances are that if you are reading this article on the internet you have all the equipment you need to set up a professional Parish Magazine. A computer capable of working with a reasonable pagination programme, a postscript printer (a laser printer for the master copy, minimum 300dpi), is all that is required.
 
Pagination
      The text of the selected articles must now be laid out to fit the chosen format, eg. A5. This can only be done effectively with a pagination program such as Page Maker. These are quite expensive programs and it is often worthwhile searching out an alternative. I still use Ready,Set,Go! 4.5, a pagination program now over 10 years old, but it still works well on my iMac under system 9. Get a duplicate from someone, since it is no longer in production. Once text blocks are set for each page of the magazine (eg. 16 pages) with margins, defined fonts, closing lines, page numbers.... you then have a format for the church magazine for subsequent years. It is best to dedicate each page, or double page spread, to a particular topic. Edit articles that are too long rather than carry them over to a page in the back of the magazine.
      There are important rules in publication regarding the use of fonts, text blocks, illustrations, and white space. Note the sample A5 magazine page above "...... And now the good news." It seeks to be pleasing to the eye with its use of, balance, page numbers, fonts, illustration..... A magazine can look like a packapoo ticket when too many fonts are used, text rules are abused, illustrations aren't balanced (or even worse, aren't square to the text line) and there is little or too much white space. Publications produced on the early Macintosh computers were noted for using every font in the system, often on just one page. They were just all too busy. Check out articles on this art form. Some manuals for pagination programs give useful pointers. Copy a layout in a commercial magazines which is pleasing to your eye. That's what I did with the sample above. Remember, other than for the "Register" or "Yearly Church Program" which can go down to 6 points, for comfortable reading the font size should be no less than 10 points. Also, a serif style font is easier to read than a sans-serif, so the longer articles should be in a serif style font.
      Use good illustrations. Often it is better to stay with the old cut and paste method rather than computer generated images. Just create the space with the page formation programme and stick the illustration in with peelable glue. Photographs need to be scanned print ready. The print house will tell you what resolution they require, e.g. 110dpi. Newsprint usually requires something between 60 and 80 dots per inch. It all depends on the quality of both the paper and the printing press. The printer will arrange this for you. Line drawing illustrations don't need to be screened.
 
Finished Product
      It usually takes a few weeks of solid work putting together and printing off a 16 page A5 magazine. Then comes the checking process. Find someone with a good understanding of english, both grammar and spelling. Computer grammar and spelling checkers don't pick up every mistake. Keep asking, "does it communicate?" This usually takes another week. Then produce the master with a quality laser printer at no less than 300dpi.
 
Publication
      As noted above, for a long run it is best to use a commercial printing house. Get to know your local printer and his requirements. It will usually take him well over a week to get onto a long print run. Note that instant print businesses don't always have offset presses. They will often use large photocopiers. This method of printing is not economical for long runs. Get some quotes and compare.
      I found the best time to work on the magazine was after Christmas. I usually had it finished late in January and published early in February. It would probably be better if it could be distributed by late January before the church program got underway, but I was never than efficient.
 
Distribution
      Again, as noted above, it is best to use members of the congregation to cover their street, and surrounding streets. They don't have to deliver them to the householder, rather just pop them into the letterbox. When a new person moves into the street, that's when a personal visit is very effective. A simple welcome and a copy of the Parish Paper is a great way for a church to impact on its local community.
      A total house-by-house distribution is the best way to go, unless there is some denominational tension. I was always up-front with the local minister's fraternal about my intention to deliver the Parish Magazine to every house in the Parish, and invited the other clergy to do the same. The more the merrier.
      There is debate over whether a Parish Magazine is "Junk Mail". I have always taken the view that it's not, and most people who receive it seem to agree. If there is a complaint, note the person's address and make sure you miss their letter box in years to come.
 
Conclusion
      The church magazine is probably one of the easiest and more effective tools we have of presenting our church to the wider community. It is a tool we should use.
 
Church Magazine Articles

      The following sample articles are designed to fit on two A5 pages with 10pt text and space for an illustration.

• 1. The Face
• 2. How do we know that Jesus was true?
• 3. The rising tide of secularism
• 4. The problem of pain