Connected: Episode 6 — Easy To Find

The first conversation episode. Ben talks to Dave Webster, Digital Content Manager, about why church details on Church Finder go out of date, what a simple page for every church could include, and how to keep it right without adding to the load on local churches.

When someone searches for a Methodist church near them, what they find is a bit of a lottery. Sometimes it is a lively website with the right service times. Sometimes it is a page nobody has touched in years, or nothing at all. For a lot of people that search is the front door.

In the first conversation episode of Connected, Ben Hollebon talks to Dave Webster, the Digital Content Manager who looks after methodist.org.uk and, very often, the person who puts a church's details right when they are wrong on Church Finder.

They talk about why church information drifts out of date, and why that is about systems that do not talk to each other, with nobody at fault. They talk about what a simple page for every church could include: the location, the service times, someone to contact and a sense of what to expect on a first visit. Churches that already have a good website of their own would keep it, with the page linking through. Churches without one would still be easy to find. And they talk about the hard part, keeping it all right without asking more of local people than they have time to give.

If there's a perspective you'd like to add — especially if you're one of the voices we've heard less from so far — please contact us.