Hmm.  I just recently got a subscription to the Observer after letting is lapse a while ago (while covertly stealing my moms copy after she was through with it).  I still find it to be thought provoking and that it cobbles together an interesting mix of world, big church little church issues.  Our congregation had stopped doing the group discount thing but our new minister revived it and there have been a number of new subscriptions.

I feel more connected by it but for me, it brings me back into a circle that I left when I left Conference ministry and national committees and such.  I've been out of that loop for a long time now so other than my friends that still work at National (I think they are still employed, let me check their facebook status, I don't know from day to day) it is a way for me to hear national church news.  I think the writing is good too.

My guess is that the average reader is over 50.

The cover story this month is about an American town rebuilding after a tornado and being green. Most of the stories inside are about the troubles of the UCC. Relevant?

Was it ever relevant, or does it just reflect a 'Toronto' view of the church?

hmm, me too ch, though, i tend to jump around.

 I don't subscribe, but the church gets an office copy which I usually glance through. There are certain things I like. I always enjoy the letters, Question Box is often interesting. Some of the features and columnists are very interesting and thought-provoking and I enjoy the snippets of information about what's happening in local congregations across the country. I have little use for the column on ethics, where two (usually clergy) are given a scenario to respond to. The scenarios never strike me as realistic.

But the question is not what I like or don't like about it - it's whether The Observer is relevant, and I'm not sure how to define "relevant." It's still my main source of information for the United Church across the country, but to be perfectly honest I wouldn't pay for a subscription myself. 

I thought just about everyone in the United Church reads the magazine. The editorial staff must work to keep things current.

The Observer is printed at RBW - Transcontinental in Owen Sound and mailed from here. Our copies arrived last week. Several members of my congregation work at the 'RB, as it is called locally. They are quite proud of their work and printing the United Church Observer.

Haven't seen it in a long time, but should pick it up again some day. It was one of my favorites of the various magazines my family was getting when I was in my teens and twenties. The coverage of both church issues and general issues from a UCC perspective was excellent at that time (80s, mostly).

Mendalla

This month's back inside cover carries an advertisement for a wide selection of cruise opportunities, as have Observer back covers for an appreciable number of years. This targets our constituency as a lucrative market for the achieving of substantial profit. That profit deriving from the presentation of conspicuous consumption as a life style option available to those with substantial disposable income.

I might modify my perspective if the Observer were to publish a researched article on the social and environmental cost of the flourishing cruise industry, including an indicative accounting of the dollar amounts diverted from mission and service by stewards of the gospel preferring indulgence of the appetites to disciplined engagement of the world as advocates and practitioners of social and environmental justice.

The most entertaining part is the Letters to the Editor (especially the irate ones).  From there on, it goes downhill.  One of my former neighbours, who didn't like the UCC, called it "The Absurder".

Two. My preference would be in e-format, as well.

A number of the magazines I used to read in hard copy have made the change to posting their full magazine in an electronic format. I can still archive and re-read the information (and can search it much more readily) but don't have the frustration of shelves of paper.

Christ's pece - r

 It just not me and Richard.  Many have made the switch from paper and are using smart phones, ipods, and e-readers like the kindle and the ipad.

These devices make it much cheaper to buy reading materials,and these devices are more accessible for many people for many reasons. For instance I bring the Globe and Mail, the New York Times and a dozen magazines with me all the time on my ipod. I can catch up on my reading while waiting for a bus, or to see a doctor.    Those with limited use of their hands often can not use paper to read at all, but can use these devices. For those with visual impairments, the ipod, ipad, and other devices can also read text out loud.

I read none of the magazines I receive in e-format. I read the paper copy and it goes to recycling. If I want to look something up I use the electronic archive search. But the paper copy is primary.

If and when Kindle or iPad come down to $5.99/unit and give me a readable image, I might replace my 3 ring service binder and 8.5 x 5.5 punched sheets. Otherwise, no.

 I guess we're on to something else here now but I thought I would put in a plug for the Observer anyway.  Although I like my reading to be a little more 'edgy" (whatever that means) and opinionated I still enjoy the Observer because it is well written and it is serious and it is thoughtful and those are  qualities that are in short supply these days.  So if the contributors to the magazine aren't visibly in a competition to show how "smart" and "dangerous" they are there are compensations to be had, foremost among them being the gratifying feeling one gets from sincere and quiet meeting of adult minds.

And it doesn't mean that new media platforms are useful, helpful and community building.

I was at the Festival of Homiletics in Nashville last week. i was appalled at the absolute rudeness of clergy who were using their Blackberry, Ipod, ipad or Kindle during worship and lectures. In the evening sessions the glow from the screens was incredibly distracting. All of these devices promote bad manners and boorish behaviour and have no place in the church. They destroy community.

 And, more on topic, I don't get magazines in e-format yet. My BB's screen is too small and I don't really feel a burning need to get an e-reader yet. However, I like the look of the new Kobo (Chapters' e-book) and some of the tablet PCs that coming up (although I am quite meh on the iPad) so that may change someday. I'm not someone who rejects technology, but in spite of being in IT, I don't race out to embrace it either. Being at the bleeding edge sometimes just leaves you bleeding.

Mendalla

I don't read magazines on the computer - I don't have Ipod or any of those other handheld thing-a-ma-jigs.  If I have to read a long article (minutes from a meeting) that I receive by email, I print them out first.  It's easier on my eyes and back.  Yes, it might be advisable to have the Observer online for those who can and want to read it that way, but not at the expense of the paper copy. 

I like that Observer.  I've read it for as long as I can remember.  It keeps me connected with what is going on in the church, and with how people in the church feel about various things.  I especially like that Letters to the Editor, although sometimes I have to go back to the previous issues to remind myself of the article they are commenting on.  I like Question Box - the questions often are about things that I've wondered about and the answers are either witty or helpful or both.  Unlike others here, I like the ethics questions.  I often find myself trying to form my answer before reading theirs.  Admittedly it is hard to present a complicated situation in 25 words or less.  I like the book reviews - they sometimes prompt me to read the book.  And I like the articles. 

Someone mentioned that it would be nice to have a connection between WonderCafe and the Observer.  I've often thought that myself. 

The reason for that (I asked) is to invite readers to subscribe.

I agree that everyday ethics is lame and certainly past it's best before date.  I wonder why they are keeping it going?

But there were a lot fewer of them.

Paper is good for some. however I believe the cost as stated above for apps is not too high. The Observer could publish in an e-pub format, which is a standard like HTML,  all portable devices have readers for them, except the Kindle.  An app or an e-pub edition enables on to read offline. This is important because my Ipod touch needs to connect to a wi-fi network and I can not do so on the bus, and as you have said, I need to turn off the wi-fi  in hospitals.

Also the Ipad and Ipod touch are not toys, nor relatively expensive. They both replace adaptive devices for people with certain disabilities that cost thousands of dollars. I received a grant (as is availalble for many types of disabilities for my Ipod touch), however if I had paid for it, I have already saved enough on newspaper and magazine subscriptions to pay for the $190 cost. I like also the larger fonts on my Ipod.  I am going  to buy an Ipad, or the new e-reader from Chapters ($160) because they have larger screens and should be easier on the eyes. Many textbook publishers are offering e-pub editions, and that should lighten the load on my back, when traveling with books.  What I save on e-editions of textbooks and others will more than pay for it. 

I am not advocating replacing the paper edition of the Observer, I am just promoting the idea for different formats to make it more accessible and thus relevant. I am not assuming many people have these devices. the Ipad is only becoming avaialble now. However millions of Canadians have bought Ipod touches and smartphones. even if only a few million have them, soon many more will, now that the Ipad is available and Chapters has an e-reader that they started selling last month.

You mean to say that an iPod qualifies for ADP funding?

Once we have universal broadband connectiviny that make ssense. otherwise we have a nation of have and have nots. Oh. I forgot we already have that. This just makes the Digital Divide even wider. And of you have ever tired to read anything on one of these new cell phones, you must have extremely young eyes.

If the letters and the question box are the most popular part of the magazine it may indicate that people are looking for and exercising their need for connection to others.

Both types of connection and community could be enjoyed at WC.

I know quite a lot of people who 'belong' to the UC.  I don't know anyone in my real life who reads WC.  

Once I saw a very old copy in a hospital waiting room.   I occasionally look at the Observer online.  It doesn't seem to contain anything that really makes me think - it has many of the same sort of topics that I discuss with friends over coffee.  At least it doesn't come across as total drivel with recipes for fat and sugar filled items, fad diets, fashion, flashy cars, body building and hints for expensive trips to far away places.

That kind of situation exists also at my church. My denomination's magazine is called the Evangelical Baptist. You can read it online here: http://www.fellowship.ca/qry/page.taf?id=27

I know of almost no one at my church, and in the Fellowship, who reads it. I assume the pastors do.