wfn.org | UCC reports nearly 70,000 'find a church' online inquiries

[powellb@ucc.org]

United Church of Christ
Press contact: Barb Powell
(216) 736-2175

For immediate release
December 7, 2004

United Church of Christ reports nearly 70,000 'find a church'
online inquiries since ad campaign's launch

      CLEVELAND -- Since the United Church of Christ's national advertising

launch on Dec. 1, nearly 70,000 online visitors to the UCC's websites

searched to find a UCC congregation.

      During the campaign's first five days, 288,000 users of the UCC's

seeker-focused website <stillspeaking.com> made 54,500 inquiries on the

site's "find a church" feature, by entering a zip code to locate a church

near them. Meanwhile, at the denomination's primary website <ucc.org>,

13,000 of approximately 162,000 visitors searched to find a nearby UCC

congregation.

      "We have never, ever experienced anything like this before," says the

Rev. Robert Chase, director of the UCC's communication ministry. "But even

more importantly, we are hearing wonderful reports that people are not only

finding UCC churches near them, but they are showing up."

      This week, churches have been offering anecdotal reports to the

church's national offices in Cleveland that attendance and enthusiasm were

up considerably on Sunday, Dec. 5, due to the denomination's increased

exposure.

      The Rev. Greg Smith, senior pastor of Bethlehem UCC in Ann Arbor,

Mich., said that his congregation welcomed several first time visitors to

its Sunday service, including three persons who said their attendance was

due explicitly to the advertisements.

      "One person doesn't even own a TV set, but heard about the ads on the

radio!" Smith said.

      St. Paul UCC in Barrington, Ill., had 18 visitors, of which five

indicated the ads were the reason.

      "I believe that God is speaking in unexpected and wonderful ways with

this outreach," wrote the Rev. Jeanne Hanson, the church's pastor, "and I

continue to pray for the love of Christ to be seen and felt in the radical

welcome and unflinching courage of the church."

      The Rev. David Bahr, pastor of Archwood UCC in Cleveland, said that

at least one family attended services because of the commercial.

      "They were amazed that such diversity of race, sexual orientation and

family style could live and worship so harmoniously," Bahr said.

      Many UCC members reported enthusiasm to be at an all-time high.

      Said a UCC member from northern Virginia, "Our folk, if they are

typical, were completely fired up about the ads today, and very proud. And

we were packed."

      Church officials also reported that online documents about the UCC's

beliefs, history and social justice commitments were among the most

frequently viewed pages and were being accessed at never-before-seen

levels.

      The United Church of Christ, with national offices in Cleveland, has

some 1.3 million members and almost 6,000 local churches in the United

States and Puerto Rico. It was formed by the 1957 union of the

Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.

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