Who would have thought?

When I first heard that my dad was doing Facebook live sermons for his church, I have to admit I was slightly sceptical. He only started using text messages recently!

Perhaps, like me, you had your doubts about how churches across the UK would adapt to ‘church online’. Early incidents involving clergy, candles and flammable jumpers certainly gave us a giggle as we began to embrace this new way of meeting together.

However, amidst the shadowy lighting and crackling audio, something pretty incredible has been happening. Since lockdown began:

• Around 3 million people who had never been to a religious service have tuned in to one digitally (on the radio, live TV, streamed online or on demand)
• One in 20 UK adults who didn’t pray before have been praying
• A quarter of UK adults have watched or listened to a religious service (that’s over 52.4 million people!). This is a dramatic increase from the usual 5-7%!

We also asked over 100 churches how they were getting on, and found that an incredible 98% had established some kind of online presence. Many even said their ‘digital congregations’ were much larger than their usual Sunday attendance.

Praise God - what a unique opportunity we have in this season, to share the gospel and show God’s love to our communities in such creative, meaningful and beautiful ways.

You could say that closing our buildings has opened the doors of our churches to a whole new audience. Amidst everything going on, that is something to celebrate!

If you have been involved in church service planning – you’ve done an amazing job!

Why not let us give you a hand over the next few months? CAP is now offering free digital talks (pre-recorded or live streamed) helping your church respond to the impact of COVID-19 on the poorest in our community.

With key scriptures and real-life stories of transformation, your church will be inspired by God's heart for the poor and how they can make a difference.

To access these free resources just fill out this simple form!