The church needs to engage quickly with the world of New Media, or it risks being left out of the loop forever.

That was the centre piece of a challenging speech given by Mal Fletcher, Director of communications group Next Wave International, to the UK Churches Media Council recently.

In a wide-ranging, thoroughly researched and entertaining speech, Mal outlined the ways in which New Media (the Internet, mobile communications etc) are changing how people interact with media generally.

'Traditionally, the link between media providers and consumers was a linear one,' he said.

'Broadcasters enjoyed a kind of "benevolent dictatorship": they decided what the audience would see and when...'

' But the development of user-friendly PCs in the 1980s, followed by the widespread use of the Tim Berners-Lee's world wide web in the 90s, brought a revolution the way people consume media products.'

'Today, the benevolent dictatorship has been replaced by a more democratic regime, where consumers vote with their feet – or their mice.'

Mal outlined the key challenges facing New Media, as well as the major opportunities they represent for the church in its mission to society.

Sections of the speech will be reproduced on this site shortly.

The Churches Media Council represents the mainstream UK church groups to the mainstream media companies, including the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.

The Council is chaired by Dr. Joel Edwards of the Evangelical Alliance, and is functionally headed up by Andrew Greystone.

Mal will be a speaker at the Council's conference this year - June 9-11. For more on the Council, visit www.churchesmediacouncil.org.uk.