St Mary's Walton church received £1000 Growing in God funding to help purchase high quality livestreaming equipment, which in turn allowed them to broadcast their services to people who were unable to attend them in person. Their carol and Christmas Day services were accessed by hundreds of people, far more than would have been possible in just an in person service.
Since setting up the equipment, the church has been able to stream Holy Communion services during lockdown, so that people were still able to attend worship without leaving their homes. Many attendees have commented on this and mentioned how wonderful it was to be able to keep connected to the church despite needing to stay at home.
There was also an act of remembrance being streamed on Armistice Day, which was watched by two local primary schools in their classrooms. A head teacher commented that it was lovely for the children to still be able to join in despite the circumstances and how grateful they were to the church for livestreaming the service.
The church will be streaming every Sunday morning service so that people do not miss out on Sunday worship. In addition to this, the church also plans to offer wedding and funeral livestreams as a possibility so those who cannot physically attend do not miss out on the day.
With current lockdown restrictions the purchase has proved to be extremely useful - and will continue to be of use after as the church is able to broadcast services to a larger than ever before audience.
