By John Cole

The nearest we can ever get to perfect communication is regular personal contact which builds up trust and friendship between people.

Most attempts at communication fall far short of the ideal, but any attempt is better than none.

When a natural flow of communication is taking place between neighbours in a living community of which the church is a part, any information which is of interest to that community, however simply it is presented, will be freely circulated.

But where natural networks of communication do not exist in this way, any attempt to share information or ideas has to be worked at in a more disciplined and structured way.

Contrived means of communication can never be completely successful but they are becoming more and more necessary in a fragmented and suburbanised society, if only to counter the distorted impressions that people will otherwise form.

Developing a communications strategy as part of the life of the local church is not the whole answer when it comes to bridging the gap between those inside church and those outside the churchyard gate, but this does not make it any less necessary and, for many churches, it is likely to be a very practical place to begin.

A number of practical ways of communicating are discussed here. All these are ways in which a local church can take at least a measure of responsibility for what it communicates to those outside.

Communication does not stop if the church takes no action. All that happens is that the wrong messages are passed across and unnecessary barriers are put in the way of those who would wish to see Jesus.