Alister Blyth - Engaging with your local newspaper

I was having lunch with two local newspaper friends when one asked me: "So Alister, how are things in that church of yours?" They were just making polite conversation, but when I mentioned that we had just baptised a group of people who just six weeks before had been mainlining heroin they wanted to hear more. "That's an amazing story - that's got to go in the paper," said one. "People would be really interested to read about stuff like that. That's the kind of stories we should be getting."

They were absolutely right. But the sad fact is that so often our newspapers do not carry the kind of stories people want to read about because we neglect to tell them. And to be fair, many journalists probably don't realise what a good source of copy a church can be.

A well known Christian in the media once told me that journalists, being what she called "by and large irreligious people", fail to pick up on many of the more interesting aspects of church life. This is because their idea of church is so often centred on buildings and structures. But we know that the New Testament definition of a church is the people who belong to it. And where you get people, you are bound to get stories. And where someone has gone through a life-changing experience, even the most cynical reporter will want to know more. Don't think the media is only interested in the church when there is a bit of scandal involved. The weekly papers I have been involved in have told stories about dramatic answers to prayer, the sick being healed, the church getting alongside the needy and the hurting, and yes, how people have come to faith.

But beware - some journalists are wary of church folk, all too often seeing us as ungrateful and judgemental. If the newspaper gets something about your church wrong, and journalists are only human, complain by all means but let your speech be seasoned with salt and light. I have had reporters come to me saying that anyone who can display such a lack of forgiveness as the person who has just wiped the floor with them at reception cannot be a real Christian. On the other hand, I have seen reporters deeply touched when someone with a genuine complaint approaches them in meekness and humility. They tell me they know whose faith is genuine. I remember an article in which a Christian MP lamented that some of the most insulting letters his colleagues receive are from Christians. I know how he feels.

Drop your local newspaper a line, tell them about yourself and your church. Get to know one of the reporters and ask them to tell you of the stories they are most interested in. Who knows, your story might just be the answer to every editor's prayer - how to fill that yawning hole on page 6 when nothing else seems to be happening.

Alister Blyth is the editor of Cumbernauld News.