12,000 visits, and counting...

A well used and popular local website has been given a makeover, to celebrate its success over the past five years. More than 12,000 separate individuals from around the world have logged onto www.stsgroup.church – an online resource for those wanting to keep up-to-date with churches in Peasedown St John, Wellow, Shoscombe and Foxote.

Known collectively as the St J’s Group, St John’s Peasedown; St Julian’s Wellow; St James’ Foxcote; and St Julian’s Shoscombe, all work together under the leadership of Revd Matthew Street.

The website, which has people visit from as far away as India and Australia, is interactive, easy to use and provides a range of recourses for people wanting to find out about Sunday services; arranging a marriage; booking a christening; listening to talks online; signing up for volunteering opportunities in the community, and keeping up-to-date with the church’s live twitter feed.

Revd Matthew Street said:

“Last year, more than 36 million adults accessed the internet each day here in the UK, with 21 million households signed up to the world wide web.

Keeping up with modern technologies and trends has never been more important for the church. To remain relevant and applicable in people’s lives we need to continually use new and radical methods to present the Christian message - which for us locally means having an interactive and easy-to-navigate website.

Our churches across all four villages, in the St J’s Group, are serving the communities in a wide number of ways from hosting weekly children groups to preparing meals for vulnerable people, and from supporting Peasedown’s Party in the Park festival to coordinating the Somer Valley Foodbank.

Our revamped website can show how our church members have a heart for making a difference, just at the click on a button.”

Since 2010, the 12,000 visitors have looked at 115,000 pages, with 50% of visitors being under the age of 35.

The website also includes a regularly updated news section, details of who the churches give financial grants to each year, photos from seasonal children’s holiday clubs, and histories of parish life in each village.

Matthew added: “Our website is the best way to find out what we are doing on a daily basis. If you’ve not had a chance to discover what we’re up to, do join the 12,000 other people who have.”

For details visit www.stjsgroup.church