Director to improve storytelling

The director of communications for the Anglican Communion Office is working to help Anglicans and Episcopalians tell their stories. Jan Butter, who was appointed in March 2010, said we need to stop letting others, namely secular journalists, tell our stories. Stories of transformation don’t make headlines, he points out. “I genuinely believe it comes down to us to tell our own story and to tell it better.”

Butter plans to strengthen the Anglican Communion News Service so that it can become the central hub for news about Anglicans worldwide. Harnessing social media is also a priority. In England, he says, there are bishops who use blogs to engage Anglicans and non-Anglicans alike. “One bishop said to me, ‘I can speak to 200 people on a Sunday morning with my service, but I have several thousand people following my blog.’ “

Aside from wanting to share stories, there is a yearning among Anglicans and Episcopalians to connect, says Butter, but they “want to connect for a reason.”