Newsletter Still Missing in Action

Most recent newsletter on the Web

Back in September, I observed ruefully that the latest issue of St. Paul’s’ newsletter, The Messenger, on the church’s Web site was the May issue. Today, not being able to put my hands on the latest issue quickly, I went to the St. Paul’s Web site in hopes of finding the November edition. Guess, what—the latest issue on the Web is still the May issue. The Messenger page is now half a year out-of-date.

This discovery was irritating, but it is more than that. If I were church shopping, I naturally would check out the Web sites of any churches I was considering joining. One of the best ways of getting a feel for the character of a parish is to read its newsletters. Not only does the lack of current newsletters on the Web fail to give the visitor a sense of what’s currently going on at a church, but it also suggests that the church is not particularly concerned about communications, a function that many church theorists consider to be of very high importance.

St. Paul’s seems to be pretty good about communicating the need to pledge to the annual stewardship campaign and to the capital campaign. Too bad it isn’t equally obsessive about its Web site.