ChristianCurrent flows into Ontario
TORONTO, ON—A new initiative launched by ChristianWeek will bring national flavour and local content into a close working relationship.
ChristianCurrent, a group of regional newspapers combining national content with regional and local stories, was launched March 1 at a press conference in the Crowne Plaza Toronto Centre.
The first two editions are based in Ontario's Golden Triangle (Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge) and Ottawa. A third launch in the Kingston-Greater Quinte area in south eastern Ontario is planned for May.
"We want to foster Christian community, increase effective Christian communication and positively affect our society," says ChristianCurrent executive publisher David Visser, who also serves as publisher of ChristianWeek and operations manager of the Belleville-based Essence Communications Group.
One way to do that, he says, is to "lift up and expose faithful followers of Jesus" to share their stories and to present the issues the Christian community faces so all can be informed and inspired to excellence.
Veteran Christian journalist Lloyd Mackey serves as ChristianCurrent's affiliate publisher in the nation's capital, while Robert White, whose writing has often appeared in ChristianWeek, heads the enterprise in the Golden Triangle.
For Mackey the launch of ChristianCurrent is the fulfilment of a long-time dream. Five years ago he started Christian News Ottawa, which is being replaced by the new newspaper. And nearly 20 years ago he was founding editor of Christian Info News in B.C., an operation that has continued to grow and thrive in the greater Vancouver area and beyond.
All the while he has longed to see a chain of community-based newspapers established across the country.
"Sometimes Christian leaders in one part of a community are completely unaware of a spiritual movement happening in another nearby place," he says. "Community papers inform everyone at the local level, as ChristianWeek continues to inform them nationally."
Asked about the long-term vision for ChristianCurrent, marketing director Gus Henne replies that as many as 15 Canadian centres may one day have their own edition of the newspaper. While the plan does call for a presence in Toronto, Visser indicated at the press conference that a Toronto launch is not imminent.
And David Visser insists, ChristianCurrent won't "cannibalise" ChristianWeek's subscriber-based readership.
"I fully expect this initiative to strengthen our infrastructure and extend the reach of ChristianWeek," adds CW editorial director Doug Koop.
"It means we can offer our national advertisers access to a larger portion of the Christian community, and that the news and views we currently publish will become available to many more readers."
As free-distribution papers, ChristianCurrent aims to build local readership for Christian news, explains Henne. Fifteen thousand copies of the inaugural editions are being distributed in churches and other Christian venues in each area.
"We have had a lot of positive feedback about ChristianWeek's new design and fresh editorial content," he adds.
"Now it's time to broaden that vision. ChristianCurrent is our attempt to reach the people in the pews with local stories that are relevant to them."
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