Prayer with technology
The unique Spring to Life event has been a key feature of Easter in Sligo in recent years - and it will not be stopped by the coronavirus.
Taking place from today [ Tuesday], Spring to Life is a week-long series of collaborative special events held by a group of churches in Sligo.
Of course, the spread of Covid-19 has presented a new set of challenges to the group, but they will hold the event this week in a different way, with their services moving to online as opposed to in places of worship.
One of those involved is Reverend David Clarke, minister of the Sligo Presbyterian Church. He says that though the Spring to Life group have had to reconsider how events take place, there remains a full schedule for the week.
“We’re a group of nine churches in Sligo, who for the last number of years have organised stuff together over Easter such as services and breakfast mornings.
“We are going to keep things going as much as we can this year, with the key message still being pointing people in the direction of Christ at Easter.”
The events scheduled for the week include daily services - which will be streamed online - as well as guest speakers.
“We will have services on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 8pm and they will be streamed live on our Facebook page,” Reverend Clarke said.
“On Friday the service moves to 3pm.
“We will also have a guest speaker, Dr John Andrews who is from Belfast but is now based in London and then on Easter Sunday there will be a 9am service.”
Much like the other denominations in Sligo, Reverend Clarke reported a very positive response to his services taking place online. He has been pleasantly surprised by the uptake in the opportunity to engage in prayer via technology.
“All our own individual services are online, and Bible Studies and so on. I have been really encouraged by the response. A lot of videos have been viewed by more people than we would have expected, and after they have been uploaded as well. Internationally we have seen a lot of people who maybe have a link to the congregation in Sligo viewing from all over the world.” “People want to connect with God, and people are feeling in need of help at this time.” For more information on upcoming events for Easter week, visit the Spring To Life Facebook page.