City churches still spreading the word with weekly online services

A group of Aberdeen churches are doing their bit to keep parishioners’ spirits up during the coronavirus lockdown by live-streaming services online.

Restrictions introduced due to the pandemic have left people unable to go to normal Sunday morning church services.

Now, in an effort to ensure they do not miss out, five churches in the west of Aberdeen have joined forces to broadcast a weekly live service on YouTube.

So far the services, which feature input from each of the five ministers of Cults,

Peterculter, Craigiebuckler, Mannofield and Kingswells churches, have been a huge success.

More than 1,000 people tuned in to last week’s broadcast – and the most recent is well on its way to surpassing that total.

Rev Shuna Dicks, of Cults Parish Church, said the churches were helping people in isolation feel part of the church community.

She said: “We recently installed audiovisual equipment with the aim of streaming our services.

“We were aiming to do that starting on Easter Sunday so it would give us a few weeks of playing about to see how it would work.

“Coronavirus pushed us into doing it a bit quicker and the response has been absolutely fantastic.

“By the time the service finished on Sunday it had more than 100 views but within a day that had gone up to nearly 600. Last week’s has been watched more than 1,000 times.”

She added: “The reach is way beyond just the congregation. There are five churches involved and we all work as a cluster, doing different events throughout the year.

“This is a way we can continue to work together, pulling in the ministers from the five churches to do a bit of the service each.

“It’s a real collaboration which has been great and it’s encouraged us to be a bit more creative.

“It’s had a really positive impact on people who have watched. We have had emails and messages saying how much they appreciate being able to watch and be part of something.”

There are already plans to branch out, with video materials for Messy Church – for children and young families – to be rolled out.

“The reach is way beyond just the congregation”

Rev Shuna Dicks of Cults Parish Church