Online church services are a hit - even in the Far East
People have been turning to a Paisley church in their hundreds during the lockdown.
Sherwood Greenlaw Church, in the east end’s Glasgow Road, usually livestreams its service on a Sunday over the internet.
And now, with the coronavirus emergency tightening its grip on churchgoers’ lives, people from all over the world have been tuning in to the services.
Long- serving elder Alastair McPhee said: “Sherwood Greenlaw Church has been live-streaming services from the manse and these have been very well supported.
“Sunday service has, to date, 415 views – that would pretty well pack the kirk on a normal day.
“We are also live streaming our weekday Lenten services every day and these too have attracted 130 to 140 hits.
“We have viewers from all over the world, including the Far East.
“We usually live stream our services from the church on a Sunday and these attract many hits in the normal run of things.
“Our services are streamed on
Facebook Live, but we have also inaugurated a YouTube channel during the present emergency.”
Sherwood Greenlaw Church came into being as a result of the union of the former Greenlaw Church and the former Sherwood Church.
Greenlaw Church was established by the kirk session of Paisley Abbey to meet the need for the extension of the abbey’s mission to what was then the New Town development in the east end of Paisley.
Greenlaw remained as a ‘Chapel of Ease’ associated with the abbey until it was raised to full status as a separate charge in 1896.
Sherwood Church had its beginnings in 1891 as a daughter church of the Free High, later Orr Square Church of Scotland.
In 1900, Sherwood, along with many other Free Churches, entered into a union with the United Presbyterian Church to form the United Free Church of Scotland, and in 1929 came back into the reformed Church of Scotland.