The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Minister’ s laptop mission to connect with flock
● Church colleagues ‘channel their inner Spielberg’ for services
An Aberdeenshire minister has praised his colleagues for “channelling their inner Spielberg” as they embrace film to communicate with their flocks.
Movie buff the Rev Paul McKeown has screened Hollywood classics at his north-east parish in the past to raise money for charities, and based an Easter sermon on The Shawshank Redemption.
But now the Belhelvie Church minister has turned
“We are getting something like 300 views a week now”
the camera on himself to impart messages of hope to worshippers no longer able to attend services due to lockdown.
As well as regular sermons uploaded to YouTube every Sunday, he and his colleagues in the Gordon Presbytery record discussions on certain topics each week.
Mr McKeown yesterday discussed the progress he and his colleagues have made in adapting to modern methods over the past three months.
He said: “I think everybody has been on a steep learning curve. Some are literally using Blu Tack to attach their phone to the computer screen and pressing Record.
“That is entry-level, but those of us who were already on the digital highway have picked up more skills.
“My son is quite techsavvy so we have been playing around with sound and interspersing images taken by local photographers with footage of me speaking. That can be especially good for people who aren’t able to get out beyond their own front yard. We are managing to broadcast videos on a Sunday, in my case replicating what I would normally do with hymns and prayers.
“But regularly three or four colleagues get together to discuss an issue, addressing the sort of questions people are asking just now in light of Covid.” Despite sometimes triple the number of people tuning into services online than visited churches in person before lockdown, it remains to be seen whether pews will be busier once kirks can reopen.
Mr McKeown added: “Almost without exception, everybody is having a significantly high number of people viewing.
“It was usual at Belhelvie to get about 100 folk along, but we are getting something like 300 views a week now and some people are watching from America and Australia.
“That is typical across the board, and it would be lovely if it meant more people come along when we reopen.
“With the best will in the world, though, people tuning in digitally do not constitute a community.
“That is what we have when people are able to gather and talk in person. The big question just now is how we return to some kind of normality.”
Mr McKeown’s praise for his counterparts, some of whom had very little prior experience with technology, was recently featured on a BBC movie review podcast, with film critic Mark Kermode commending the “very impressive” efforts.