- 63 -


                   served by recognising them as such. The Church already

                   employs university and hospital chaplains per se, and it

                   was occasionally learned from interviews that other

                   incumbents hold similarly specialised chaplaincies on a

                   less formal basis.

           (iii)  Product distribution. Should people come to the Church

                   or the Church go to the people? We have already learned

                   in Chapter 2 that this problem is recognised and that

                   some efforts are being made to provide places of worship

                   in areas of known or probable demand. The programme is

                   constrained by both legal and financial difficulties but

                   could be assisted by better market intelligence.

           (iv)  Market development. This is an area which is more likely

                   to be sensitive, but even the Church does not abhor

                   completely such techniques as external advertising and

                   even doorstep canvassing.


3.5.4.2
No clear objective


         All of these divisions have at least prima facie application to

the Church, but when, in 1975, McAulay
(T8)
made a special study of

marketing the Church of England she had appreciable difficulty in

finding adequate data, and much of what she did find had a disconcertingly

large margin of approximation. She abandoned attempts to write on

consumer motivation because the only study available was "so small as

to make it almost meaningless" and commented ruefully "Aside from the

lack of basic information there seems to be no clear objective in the

Church. What is it they are trying to promote? Is it theology,

belongingness, social services, church attendance, etc?"
(T8)
No-one

could tell her. No-one had thought along those lines.

         After four centuries the Church of England is not only atrophying

Previous Contents Next