Significant changes at new-look NCLS website

The revamped National Church Life Survey (NCLS) website - www.ncls.org.au - online from May 12, contains an extraordinary library of thousands of resources.

"We have made some significant changes. We hope that the new look website will be easier to use and people can find what they need," said NCLS Web Manager, Dr Ruth Powell. "There are Fast Facts, research findings in bite-sized pieces, local church and community profiles and graphs that you can customize with your own denominational or local church results."

One major change is that access to the Workbench is now free - rather than the previous $65 annual subscription. The NCLS Workbench project has gathered a library of ministry aids from practitioners across all denominations and faith approaches.

Resources have been catalogued; some are still 'rough-hewn' and others are polished, such as the database of equipping courses from around Australia.

Rod Bullpitt, Workbench Co-ordinator said, "There are so many great ideas from different places. The NCLS website is a way of sharing knowledge, practical ideas and stories so the whole church benefits." He added, "Using the image of a workbench, we also encourage people to interactively build resources to suit their own situations."

Nearly 200 cartoons have been created over the past ten years to enhance NCLS findings. Another new feature is that NCLS cartoonist, Chris Morgan, has generously allowed all website visitors a free personal subscription. Chris says, "Most people want a cartoon to stick on their fridge, or send to a friend in an email. This sort of behaviour is encouraged." There is a small fee for other uses.

The News page will feature latest results and resources related to five areas of focus: who goes to church, healthy churches, leadership, spirituality and the wider community. It links to a new free newsletter offered via email every 2 months, commencing in July. Each issue will focus on a core quality of healthy churches, plus research findings, stories from congregations as well as sample resources from practitioners.

"We won't stop here," said Ruth Powell. "There are lots of ideas for more improvements, we will keep gathering resources, and the NCLS team has arguably the largest database on church life in the world to mine for results! We hope that www.ncls.org.au gets added to many people's 'favourites' list."

NCLS Research is a joint project of the Uniting Church NSW Board of Mission, ANGLICARE (Diocese of Sydney) and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

Some 7,200 congregations in 19 denominations across Australia were involved in the 2001 National Church Life Survey. NCLS Research also draws from surveys of the wider community and the national census to provide resources to assist Australian churches in mission.