Stained Glass Summer: join in on social media

What is it all about?

Many parish churches are full of beauty and history, attracting visitors from near and far. Many include stunning stained glass windows, often depicting characters and stories from the Bible. 

To encourage people to visit your local church building, whether they are churchgoers or not, we invite you to share a picture or video of one of your stained glass windows, with some text to explain it, on your parish's preferred social media channel.

We hope this is an easy way for your church to show off its wonderful building to the online world, whilst talking about the Bible and sharing its life-transforming message. 

If church life in your parish is 'quieter' over the summer, due to holidays, you may need some fresh ideas for social media posts during July and August. You may also be looking for ways to engage with people in the community who don't go to church at the moment. In either case, taking part in #StainedGlassSummer could help you. 

How can my church get involved?

Everyone is welcome to take part! You could post from an individual account or a church account. Here's what to do:

1. Pick a stained glass window in your church and take the best picture you can. Make sure all the details are visible – you might want to take several pictures to share, to include some close ups.
2. Write some text about the stained glass. You could talk about one or several of these things:
   • Who the window shows and the Bible story it represents
   • A Bible verse that the window brings to life or was inspired by
   • Something to do with the history of the window and its design
3. Finish off your text by saying everyone is welcome to come and see the window, you could also let people know about when you're open.
4. Finally, include the hashtag #StainedGlassSummer. This will make your post is discoverable to everyone taking part, including us. We will be retweeting and reposting your contributions from the Church of England's national Instagram, Facebook and Twitter channels throughout July and August.
5. Post your picture and text on social media. Choose the platform that is used the most by your church. This could include Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. 

Alternatively you could record a short video on a smart phone, tablet or camera. It could include someone explaining why they love the window, or talking through the bullet points above, whilst standing next to the stained glass window. 

Some examples

To offer a bit of inspiration, here are a few examples taken from churches who have had a go already. 

Holy Trinity, Hounslow

St Mary's, Nantwich

Otley Parish Church

More examples coming soon!

Top tips

• Use the social media platform that is engaged with the most by your local community.
• Keep your caption as short and sharp as possible, making use of paragraphs to space the copy out. 
• Choose whether to take the picture portrait or landscape, depending upon the shape of the window and the platform you are wishing to share it on. Generally speaking, portrait works well on Facebook and Instagram, and landscape on Twitter.
• If shooting a video, think about light, sound and stability. Make sure the camera is as still as possible, with no distracting shakes. When it comes to lighting, make sure the speaker is well lit. If they are stood directly in front of the window, they may become silhouetted, making it hard for the viewer to see the face of the person talking. Standing them just to one side may be better. Finally, try and record the video with as few people around as possible. This will cut out any unwanted noise.