Building on its award-winning momentum, the UCC's StillSpeaking Magazine is in the initial stages of a planned reassessment of the goals it has achieved and those that lie ahead, including new ways to broaden its appeal.

"We are exploring how we might expand readership of the award-winning StillSpeaking Magazine in ways that will ensure it is landing in the hands and homes of those for whom it was initially intended –– those who have a deepening love and appreciation for the United Church of Christ's distinct vision, voice and values," said the Rev. J. Bennett Guess, executive minister of the UCC's Local Church Ministries and former director of the denomination's Publishing, Identity and Communication Ministry.

Among many options being considered are automatic subscriptions "as a thank-you gift or 'premium' to those who contribute above a certain modest threshold to the UCC Annual Fund," said Guess. "The NAACP and Human Rights Campaign, among others, use this approach, and it might be a more effective and efficient model for us as well."

Expanding the magazine's reach is a critical piece of the reassessment, Guess said.

"Many of our current magazine subscribers are generous contributors to the national church, but we also know that there are many, many more generous contributors who are not receiving the magazine, simply because they may not have subscribed, per se," said Guess. "It makes perfect sense that they should be getting it."

During the current reassessment, new StillSpeaking subscriptions are being temporarily suspended. Magazine delivery to its current 3,500 subscribers will not be affected, and new and past issues will continue to be available for individual purchase.

From its inception, the twice-annual magazine was designed in both look and content to be a development-focused member magazine, not a news magazine, said Ann Poston, StillSpeaking Magazine publisher and current director of the UCC's Publishing, Identity and Communication Ministry.

"Publishing operations in general know that subscription renewals are costly to secure," said Poston. "We are thinking that there are more effective and innovative approaches to making this award-winning magazine more widely available than only through paid subscriptions."

"You don't subscribe to your college's alumni magazine, but it comes to you, generally speaking, because you have contributed as an alumnus or alumna," said Poston. "We're looking at the same type of thing here."

With the upcoming 2012 Spring/Summer issue of StillSpeaking Magazine (available in May 2012), "we'll be launching online content for the current issue, as well as making the back issues available electronically," said Poston. "There's so much more to explore about the UCC than can fit in the magazine's printed pages. In addition to direct links to more information on selected articles, there will be areas for related content and direct ways for people to act on these inspirational stories."

Assessing the magazine "is a normal process," said W. Mark Clark, the UCC's associate general minister. When the magazine debuted, "our plan was to do a periodic assessment, and so now we're in the process of determining whether the magazine's needs are changing."

"We've gotten very positive response, both inside and outside the church," said Clark, who was a member of the UCC Office of General Ministries' board when the magazine was created. "I certainly expected then that we would be doing this reanalysis and retooling."

Copies of new and past issues of the magazine are available at ucc.org/magazine, or by calling UCC Resources, toll free, at 800-537-3394. 

Currently, StillSpeaking Magazine's direct publishing costs run about $100,000 per issue: $60,000 for design and printing services; and $40,000 for freelance writers, designers and other production-related expenses.