Churches taking worship online
RELIGIOUS services will take on a very different form tomorrow as churches follow health advice over social gatherings.
Churches across Northern Ireland will be embracing technology to spread the word, using live streaming and pre-recorded messages on websites and social media platforms.
The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Rt Rev William Henry, will begin a series of Sunday worship services that will be available on the PCI website.
He said: “While you are not able to meet in that place that has been so familiar to you, that place where God has drawn alongside you, I know that many congregations will be live-streaming their service of worship this weekend.
“If your own church isn’t, we want you to be able to connect with what our own denomination will be putting on the PCI website. I want to encourage you to check in over the next few months and I want to take a lead in bringing our people together. Worship is not cancelled.”
The service was pre-recorded in Maze Presbyterian near Lisburn and will be available on PCI’S website and Facebook page from 6am on Sunday morning.
The Catholic Church in Ireland has already started to reach out to the community, with national broadcaster RTE screening Mass every weekday at 10.30am from St Eunan’s and St Columba’s
Cathedral, Letterkenny, on the RTE News Now channel, available on Sky channel 521, Virgin Media 200 and via the RTE Player.
The broadcasts will continue at least until March 29 and RTE will also continue to broadcast a diverse range of Christian worship every Sunday at 11am on RTE One.
The Church of Ireland will be live-streaming worship from several churches around the country.
St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, All Saints in Antrim, Downpatrick’s Down Cathedral, and St Mark’s in Armagh are among those involved in the broadcasts.
Details are available via the Church of Ireland website at www.ireland.anglican.org