As we enter another period of lockdown some churches will be re-employing their newfound skills to continue their worship online. In the last few months, quite a few vicars have become quite adept at becoming one man/woman TV production crews, appearing in front of the camera to make services available via the internet to anyone who has a computer or a smartphone.
It’s a great way to connect with people in the community, but what about those people in the community who don’t use this type of technology? How can they continue to benefit from hearing regular church services as churches, once again, have to close their doors for public worship?
The Revd Dr Joe Kennedy is the vicar of Oxton St Saviour. At the start of the first lockdown in March, he started using a system produced by a company called twilio.com. The service enables people to listen to his church’s services through a traditional landline phone, simply by dialing a telephone number in the normal way. No downloading apps, no login, and no social media account are required.
Joe says, “Since March, we've been using a package produced by a company called twilio.com which enables us to make an MP3 file available by telephone to people. We use this for a message (prayer, reading, reflection) each Sunday - and it's been much appreciated by a number of people in our congregation who are older. More recently, the neighbouring parish of Woodchurch has also started using this and are also saying that it's working well for people.”
Other services that facilitate the use of a traditional phone to enable people to keep in touch with others and the church include:
Daily Hope - This offers music, prayers, and reflections as well as full worship services from the Church of England at the end of a telephone line 0800 804 8044. This has been set up particularly with those unable to join online church services during the period of restrictions in mind.
WhyPay - They facilitate "genuinely free" group phone calls. It’s used by the ministry team in Macclesfield to bring people together in a telephone conference call more akin to a coffee-morning at Church. Visit the WhyPay website.