Dr Townsend judged the Accessibility Award category of the Premier Christian Media’s 5th Annual Christian New Media Awards (CNMAs) which recognised websites that delivered an exemplary commitment to accessibility.
Presenting the Award, accompanied by his guide dog, Tom, he said, “Jesus was a great communicator. He communicated with all kinds of people. My judging was an interesting journey. But, some of my journeys couldn’t even get started. A real case web-sight loss!”
He continued, “The Leigh Road Baptist Church website was excellent. I really know what’s going on. It almost makes me want to move to Leigh-on-Sea!”
Commenting on the awards, Dr Gordon Temple, Chief Executive of Torch Trust questions whether the Church is grasping the concept of accessibility, pressing that it ought to be second nature to do so.
He said, “The gospel is inclusive – Jesus was inclusive, and went out of his way to include people with disabilities
We’re supporting this Award because it’s important that web and media resources are accessible to all. It should be the norm for the Christian church; a Gospel for all, and a heart for all because we don’t want to see anyone left out.”
David Elcock, Community Worker for Leigh Road Baptist Church commented on the award, “We worked with Ecru.co.uk to create our site which launched in April of this year. We and ECRU – a Leigh-on-Sea based web design agency believe the right website is crucial in encouraging people to interact with the church, Matt, Sarah and Andy of ECRU were rigorous in their approach to accommodating the real-world needs of people with disabilities.”
Matt Williams, Managing Director of ECRU said, ”We were delighted to have the opportunity to work with David Elcock on the Leigh Road Baptist Church website – we experienced a real meeting of minds when it came to the spirit underlying the project, with a shared focus on fostering communication with real people, whatever their age or ability.”
David Elcock, continued, “Working with Matt, Sarah and Andy of Ecru.co.uk to create the new site that launched in April of this year has been a joy. We are really happy that it has already been recognised for its accessibility through the Premier CNMAs. ECRU have been excellent in helping LRBC with their expertise in creating a truly useful and accessible website that works for us as a church in our attempt to reach out to all the people of our community. We couldn’t recommend them enough.”
The evening which took place St Stephen Walbrook in the City of London on 14th October, was hosted by Premier Christian Radio Presenter, Maria Rodrigues-Toth and Dr. Krish Kandiah, Executive Director: Churches in Mission and England Director for the UK Evangelical Alliance.
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