Church publications discuss challenges at annual convention

Representatives of North America’s church press met in Chicago, April 27-29 amid the reality of declining church memberships, shrinking budgets and the growth of online readership. Members of the Canadian Church Press met with their US counterparts in the Associated Church Press to hear plenary speakers, take in workshops and enjoy fellowship opportunities which provided support and encouragement.

Some of the most popular workshops focused on the rise of digital media. “All church publications face similar challenges as readers move from print to screen and budgets shrink,” noted Dr. Ian Adnams, editor of The Canadian Lutheran. 

Like Lutheran Church–Canada’s magazine, other church publications are moving to online versions, but the advertising revenue isn’t following. The secular media is also fighting the same battle. Recently, the New York Times set up a paywall which allows readers access to a limited number of free pages after which a subscription is required.

Adnams reports considerable discussion at the convention about the pros and cons of online editions, especially among publications whose budgets rely on subscriptions. The Canadian Lutheran is published by Lutheran Church–Canada and distributed free to congregations. It receives funding from LCC’s overall budget to which congregations contribute through their offerings for the work of Synod. Additional revenue comes from advertisers.

To engage readers online without increasing the budget, last year LCC reduced the annual frequency of printed editions from nine to six while providing a constant stream of online content on www.canadianlutheran.ca.

“We are evaluating how this is working,” Adnams explained. “We welcome more than 6,000 readers each month online.” He also said that although LCC sends out more than 20,000 copies of The Canadian Lutheran every other month it is impossible to know how many people read it.

“We do know there is a growing number of younger readers who prefer reading material online and will not pick up a hard copy,” Adnams added.

He said that currently LCC is surveying online readers to find out whether they would be interested in an iPad edition of The Canadian Lutheran. Currently iPads can access the PDF version at www.lutheranchurchcanada.ca/canluth however creating an “app” could place the magazine on iTunes thereby making it available to a wider audience.

“To say these are challenging times for all print media is an understatement,” says Adnams. “But I see the challenges as creating more opportunities to share the Gospel and the news of God’s grace in Jesus Christ working in and through the lives of His people.”

During the CCP’s Annual General meeting, members elected Dr. Adnams to serve as vice-president. The two-year term is his second time on the association’s executive having served as president from 2003-2005.

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