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Reform Magazine | February 6, 2025

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Get cracking with this code! - Reform Magazine

Get cracking with this code!

The QR code is your church’s new friend, says Andy Jackson

There is a saying: ‘The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.’ Four years ago, I wrote a piece for Reform about the importance of noticeboards. A few weeks ago, I saw an image of a brand-new noticeboard outside a United Reformed church, with all of the pertinent contact details, phone numbers and website address, but no QR code. By not including one, the church is missing out on lots of people finding out about the church.

QR codes were fashionable some years ago but went out of favour. Then Covid came along, and all venues had to display a QR code so that people could be tracked by the NHS Covid app. You turned your mobile phone camera on, pointed it at the QR code (a mosaic of black and white squares in most cases), a website address popped up and you clicked on the link to visit that website.

Now QR codes are appearing on venues, menus, websites, TV programmes and more. More than 36% of mobile phone users scan at least one QR code a week, and 45% of shoppers use QR codes to access special offers. Therefore, if we don’t have QR codes outside our church buildings, we are not being accessible to those who walk and drive by (and stop to use their phones if legal and safe to do so!)…

Andy Jackson is Head of Communications for the United Reformed Church

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This is an extract from an article published in the November 2023 edition of Reform

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