Get in the picture - stats and feedback

Thousands engaged with an initiative that enables all kinds of people to be involved in the Christmas story

More than 8,400 photos were uploaded to the Get in the Picture website across 170 events over the 2013 festive period, with the site subsequently receiving 15,600 unique visitors who viewed 108,000 individual pages. 

Get in the Picture works by churches setting up a nativity scene in their local town, and then inviting people from their local community to dress up and be part of the scene.

A photo is taken and then uploaded to the website, which can then be printed, emailed to friends or shared on social media. 

A post-event survey has just been completed, showing that churches included GTIP events as part of their town’s Christmas festival or equivalent.  Others were based in empty shopping units. One GITP event was part of a youth weekend in which young people from different churches were assigned to help with a variety of projects in the city.

The feedback revealed that many felt the event had gone well, with more than 80 per cent responding stating they would participate in the event again.

There were some interesting comparisons with the figures from the previous year.  In 2012 the number of unique visitors to the website was lower – 10,670 – but they viewed more pages (166,734). This was perhaps because there were more photos in 2012 – 13,265 from 185 events; compared with 8,400 photos from 170 events in 2013.

A major difference can be seen in the way people accessed the GTIP website. In 2013 just under 6,000 visitors came from Facebook, compared with around 3,400 the previous year. And whereas the majority of users came from laptops and PCs in 2012, a year later later mobiles and tablets accounted for 57 per of the traffic.

Dawlish Christian Fellowship  was one church that really went to town, organising real sheep to help keep the children entertained while waiting in the queue. The church’s Hazel Huggins said it had been a great success.
‘The town Christmas market was happening at the same time, so we had a lot of families who took part.

‘The atmosphere was light and fun. We were able to remind everybody of the real meaning of Christmas but not be too in your face – a really terrific way to share the story of Jesus.’

The Revd Ian Bunce, Faith and Society networker for mission and media, said, ‘Once again this initiative has caught people’s imagination - those taking part from our churches have found it a fun and effective form of evangelism.’

Get in the Picture is a project that started in 2008 and encourages people to participate and experience being part of the nativity in a fun way. The initiative, facilitated by our Baptist Union of Great Britain alongside partners Hope and the Light Project.