#FollowTheStarChurch of England Christmas campaign 2018

Find out more and join in at www.churchofengland.org/christmas

Spirit of collaboration

• Workshop with diocesan communicators in 2018 helped to shape the campaign and strategic approach

• Diocesan comms reference group provided additional thoughts

• Great collaboration with Bishopthorpe, Lambeth & Church House

All of this has shaped the plans for 2018.

#FollowTheStar Reflections

• Written by Isabelle Hamley• Contains 14 daily reflections, from

Christmas Eve throughout the 12 days of Christmas, ending with Epiphany on 6th January.

• Each one includes a picture, a short Bible passage, a simple prayer and a challenge to reflect or act differently.

• Available from CHP individually, in packs of 10 or 50.

What we’re sending to parishes

• CHP sending a free booklet, poster and flyer to 19,000 clergy by end of September

• Booklets are now available to order.

The #FollowTheStar App

• Free and available for iOS and Android • Developed in partnership with CHP & Aimer Media

– the team behind #LiveLent, Daily Prayer• Key features:• Daily reflections• A Church Near You embedded• Reflections and Bible passages available in audio format

• Launching in late November 2018

Digital

• How we’re using the reflections online:• Email or mobile sign up required to access reflections• Animated teaser videos for social media• Updated Alexa skill

• Family resources: • Advent/Christmas reflections calendar • Animated family prayer

• #FollowTheStar videos that show people journeying to church• Record well known Christmas carol• Targeted social media advertising.

A Church Near You

• Special homepage for Christmas

• Prioritise churches which list Christmas services and events

• Churches can enable #FollowTheStar campaign on their pages

• Interactive map showing live numbers and features of

Christmas services and events

• Key calls to action throughout the site will be:

• Go to a local service or event

• Go to our CofE website Christmas pages.

Resources for local churches

• Christmas cards• Bookmarks• Posters and flyers• Banners• Gift tags• Stars- Resources available through Church Print Hub- Many customisable with local details by CPO.

Church of England website

• From September the following will be available:• Preview of the #FollowTheStar reflections booklet• Advent and Christmas family resources – to enable churches to

plan events • List of all CPO resources available • Links to buy Church House Publishing reflections booklet

• Christmas themed home page in December

Family resources

• Ideas for home - something

for every day till January 6th

• Activity at church - an

adaptable framework

• Connecting with families –

online prayer and presence.

Night of Stars – our aims

1. Time content for maximum reach

Update A Church Near You website with local services

and events (tagging events with Christmas) prior to the

spike of traffic to ACNY, illustrated above.

Night of Stars – our aims

2. Make highly visual content

(a) become a ‘star church’ by displaying a prominent star (ideally

outdoor and illuminated at night) and (b) share images and videos

through social media #FollowTheStar

3. Generate media interest

Don’t forget to tick the box on ACNY website to signify participation

in the #FollowTheStar campaign – this is important is it is the data we

will use for our media release.

Action for Churches: help us maximise partaking in the

We need local churches!

1. Order the booklets, download posters, logos and other resources

2. Update A Church Near You with local services and events (tagging their events with Christmas)

3. Share the Christmas videos and social media posts through your diocesan and local church social media accounts

4. Display stars prominently as part of our ‘night of the stars’ campaign

5. Download the #FollowTheStar app from late November (available on Android and iOS).

Find out more and join in at

www.churchofengland.org/christmas