What inspires you, what do you love to do? Whether it is cream teas, architecture, calm spaces, rock climbing, family history, art, live music or something else; you can do, see, or experience it in a church building. We just have to convince you that you can, and then encourage you to go! There are over 40,000 Christian places of worship in the UK. Every single one has some aspect of architectural, cultural or social heritage significance. However, these buildings are a fragile resource, non-commercial and almost entirely dependent upon voluntary effort. If they are not supported and promoted a vital part of our culture and history could be irretrievably lost. Until now, there has never been a professional, focused visitor facing tourism promotion scheme and associated marketing brand for churches across the UK. As one of the key heritage attractions in the UK, churches should be getting their share of tourism income. So, we are at a unique point in time, with a huge opportunity available to us. Digital technologies have created a revolution in tourism marketing and heritage interpretation. They inspire and provide us all with information about places, activities and events from service providers and from our peers through social media and user generated content. They also allow is to engage with the places we go, meaning that the relationship continues long after we have returned home. Mobile devices are used by visitors whilst exploring. They allow us to find information ‘on the hoof’ and then share experiences through social networks and reviews. Step up [ExploreChurches]. [ExploreChurches] is a NEW engaging, vibrant, easy to use and effective way for visitors to discover, visit and experience churches, chapels and meeting houses as treasure houses of heritage, history and community. [ExploreChurches] is all encompassing, visitor focused and dynamic, telling the stories of churches, chapels and meeting houses, encourage people to visit and understand them, and share their experiences with others. We will also engage with them throughout the whole process, thereby increasing the chance that they will make a donation to maintain the heritage of the buildings they come to enjoy. Such varied but interdependent goals, for 40,000 potential partners, could not be achieved using one traditional tourism marketing tool. But, by combining digital technologies available into one online platform we can truly offer visitors and churches a game changing solution.

1. [ExploreChurches] Manager
Sarah Crossland
Registered Charity Number: 1119845

2. Church
geeks…

3. Geeks
of
another
kind…

4. What
inspires
you…

5. You can…
do
see
experience
it in a church or chapel…

6. NATIONAL CHURCHES TRUST
The National Churches Trust is the only national, independent, non-profit
organisation dedicated to promoting and supporting church buildings of historic,
architectural and community value across the United Kingdom.
We offer support, advice and funding to Christian places of worship of all
denominations on a wide range of subjects.
For information on all of our activities please visit www.nationalchurchestrust.org

7. Church tourism
During the past 15-20 years there have been a variety of
coordinated church tourism projects which:
• encourage churches to be open
• train volunteers
• provide interpretation
• organise events
• coordinate marketing and publicity

9. Bringing it all
together…
for the church geeks,
geeks of another kind
and those who aren’t
geeks at all…

10. • Europe is home to several hundred thousand churches, chapels, synagogues,
mosques, temples, abbeys and other religious sites.
• As in the UK this remarkable heritage is facing unprecedented challenges.
Reduced religious observance and restrictions on government spending mean
that much is not properly maintained, and under risk of being closed, sold or
destroyed.
• Each territory has different organisations and systems in place to support and
protect these buildings, but they are part of our common heritage.
• The EU has recently affirmed that ‘religious heritage must be preserved for its
cultural value’.
• This reflects the views of 75% of Europeans who believe that these buildings
occupy an essential place in their cultural inheritance.
• Religiana is a project coordinated by the Future for Religious Heritage.
• The National Churches Trust is the national partner for the UK.
Religiana
Background

11. For those who enjoy visiting religious sites, Religiana will:
• Provides up to information on buildings across Europe
• Lets you search by where you are or where you’d like to go, by architectural
style, age, historical date or individual artefact or artwork
• Suggests tours or helps you to build your own tour
For those who manage religious buildings, Religiana:
• Helps promote buildings
• Publicises financial needs and repair projects and encourages visitors to
donate
• Advertises events
• Provides useful feedback from visitors
What is Religiana

12. We are looking for testers:
• Email: sarah.Crossland@nationalchurchestrust.org
If you would like to be involved

13. However…
Religiana is currently
for the church geeks…
what about the rest of us…

14. What would
inspire you to…
[ExploreChurches]

15. Vision
To create a visitor facing, detailed, up to date, flexible, interactive, attractive, informative, easy to use,
well promoted and self-sustaining web platform, using the latest technology and with associated social
media, events and enews tie-ins.
something like…

16. [ExploreChurches] as the tourism technology for all churches, chapels and meeting
houses in the UK
Strategic aims
a national marketing strategy and brand for church tourism
a detailed / attractive / interactive / flexible and accessible website
integrated marketing across the sector, creating campaigns and promotions
to maximise the opportunity for visitor donations / spend
regular visitor research and providing data, intelligence and analysis
Objectives

17. a new/vibrant/engaging/shared brand image for open churches across the UK
modern and clean, not fusty/heritagy/churchy
transferable to print media and other formats
Image
financially self-sufficient
donations module for [ExploreChurches]
donations module/links for member churches, potentially integrated with JustGiving
and JustTextGiving or similar
online shop, perhaps via an Amazon shop or similar
Income generation

18. there is a detailed timetable and a table of key dates
the project must be ready to launch in Tourism Week 2016 (March)
this means the launch of a fully working and partially populated marketing and
promotions module and a working and tested database module (ready to be
populated)
Project timetable
2500 churches listed by end of first two years
10% year on year growth in visitor numbers for each member church
increased visitor spend in churches
Wider goals success factors

19. Marketing & promotion module
to create the first visitor promotion web and mobile platform for all churches
to create a recognisable brand identity for [ExploreChurches] and for all churches
Aims
detailed and expandable platform
ability to build campaigns and curated pages from information online or via our own
data
ability to include audio, video and social media
ability to integrate or share events with other recognised / well used events calendars
Requirements
ability for [EC] to easily create marketing and promotional campaigns, with multiple
pages including text, images, video, social media etc
ability to easily and quickly create curated pages from online links or our own
database
events module, integrated with press data feeds or with a means to share with press
easily
Success factors

20. Database module
to provide data sets for the marketing and promotion module
to be a one stop place for member churches and visitors to upload visitor information
to provide sharable limited data for other organisations/websites/partners
Aims
detailed and expandable data platform (as visitor information requirements change)
ability to tag, theme and group datasets (so that we can pull out or share datasets)
ability to share all or limited data with other organisations
Requirements
intuitive and easy to upload datasets (this will be done by volunteers with widely
varying degrees of IT competence and experience)
ability to define groups of datasets based on tags or themes
share groups of datasets with other organisations, for use on their web or mobile
platforms
donations module
Success factors

21. Ideas… for marketing, the database, how to engage with
visitors?
What do you want… as a church, as a visitor?
Could you be involved in development… in focus groups,
testing, one of our early uploaders?
Could you share your skills and knowledge… being a
volunteer moderator?
Will you be involved after launch… use the site, upload
photos and images, list churches that are missing?
If you would like to be involved

22. [ExploreChurches] Manager
Sarah Crossland
Registered Charity Number: 1119845
Please get in touch:
sarah.crossland@nationalchurchestrust.org