The Voice: In early January 2011, the Voice pre-convention issue will go to print and be distributed as follows:
- An electronic version will be available for immediate download from the diocesan website, in a home and office printer-friendly PDF format.
- Print versions will be boxed and shipped to congregations for distribution to their members, newcomers and visitors. The number of copies shipped to each congregation will be based on average Sunday attendance. Church offices will be notified via email on the day of shipment, with delivery expected within a few short days thereafter.
- Readers for whom neither internet nor church distribution is practical can request that the Voice be mailed directly to them via first class mail. The January 2011 Voice will automatically be mailed to those who responded to the survey indicating they rely solely on print communications and those who made donations between September 1, 2009 (when donations began to be tracked by individual) and December 1, 2010. A form will be printed in the January 2011 Voice which can be returned to request future mailings. Donations to cover the cost of mailing will be appreciated but not required.
It is hoped that this three-prong approach will provide the best stewardship of both treasure (reducing mailing costs) and time and talent (minimizing mailing list updates), as well as make the Voice easily available to newcomers and visitors. After the two 2011 issues have been distributed in this manner, we'll evaluate the process and make adjustments as necessary.
We ask that clergy, lay leaders and staff help us make this new system a success by taking an active role in distributing the Voice when your bulk shipment arrives. Consider putting a stack of copies out at coffee hour, distributing individual copies to Vestry and other lay leaders, and including the Voice with newcomer materials.
The Digest: Also starting in January 2011, the biweekly Digest e-newsletter will be renamed the Voice Online. This name change is simply a recognition of the functional change that has already occurred as the Digest has evolved over the past 15 months.
Instead of saving articles for one of the two print editions of the Voice each year, congregations will have the opportunity to submit their stories of equipping, empowering and engaging for more timely publication in the Voice Online, via an online form to be launched before January.
The Clergy & Lay Leader News has been renamed the Leadership News. Other than changing to a name that's shorter and easier to remember, its format and function will rename the same.
Questions? Please contact Nina Nicholson, Director of Communications & Technology, nnicholson@dioceseofnewark.org or 973-430-9907.
