A CHURCH in Windsor has embraced modern marketing techniques to better understand its community - and is encouraging others to do the same.

Dedworth Green Baptist Church has mailed 6,500 households with a short questionnaire to find out local people's thoughts and attitudes to both a number of issues and the church itself.

Results will be collected over the summer and will be used to plan church activities through autumn and beyond.

The survey coincides with the church's move into a brand new building in September after its previous home was destroyed by a fire in 2000.

It has invested just under £2,000 in marketing techniques and put together 'high quality materials' to make an impact, said Matthew Tickle, a member of the church leadership team. For instance it has redesigned its website and created a brand-new logo (pictured).

Mr Tickle said, 'We talk a lot about production values at our church.

We recognise out in today's world people are very used to high production values, and we need to make ours as high as possible.

'We are comfortable about using these techniques. Everybody else is using them. It's a crowded market and we want to make ourselves heard. This is unusual for a local church.'

He encouraged other churches to take a similar approach, saying 'We've invested just under £2000 in doing this and we know that the information we get back will be really valuable as we plan our activities for the next phase of the life of the church.'

The idea of a questionnaire was gleaned from a seminar by the Revd Stuart Davison at last year's Baptist Assembly in Bournemouth.

Mr Tickle has corresponded with Mr Davison, regional minister, team leader at the South Eastern Baptist Association, on how best to frame the questions. The results will be published in the autumn.

Minister-elect the Revd Matthew Scott said the information will be invaluable. 'We'll use the data we collect to ensure that the ministry of Dedworth Green Baptist Church continues to be relevant to the needs of our neighbours,' said Mr Scott.

The survey can be downloaded from www.dgbc.org.uk