The Point fresh expression of church in Sussex, will be helping to lead a technological revolution on Sunday (11th October) when its morning service will be broadcast live through a free mobile phone app.
Canon Andrew White, known as the 'Vicar of Baghdad', will be speaking to The Point gathering at St Paul's Catholic College, Burgess Hill, at 10.30am but his talk will also be streamed live across social media as part of ChurchLive – a partnership project between the Church of England and Twitter (@churchlive).
Over the course of a year, ChurchLive will see services – featuring different Church of England churches every week – being streamed from the '@churchlive' account using the mobile video streaming app, Periscope. Future services planned include St Martin in the Fields in London and Beverley Minster.
Andrew White will be talking about the refugee crisis in the Middle East which is causing tens of thousands of people to flee violence and persecution. The Point plans to make a contribution to the work of Andrew and the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East (FRRME) from its own operating budget of £5,000; a figure it hopes the congregation will match in an appeal.
The Point's Mission Pastor, Jules Middleton, said,
As a fresh expression of church we are delighted to be chosen to help the Church of England launch their new initiative 'ChurchLive' this Sunday. ChurchLive is really encouraging people to think outside the box when it comes to church which is exactly what fresh expressions do on a daily basis! We're so excited that we have Canon Andrew White with us too, it's going to be a really amazing Sunday at The Point.
The Church of England said the broadcasts could be 'the first taste of church for those unfamiliar with church services' and an introduction to the best of worship, preaching and prayer.
It won't be the first time that church services have been broadcast on Periscope. Earlier this year, parishioners at St Radegund's Church in Grayingham, in the Diocese of Lincoln were joined by another 350 people around the world for their regular traditional Sunday service after becoming the first to experiment with the app.
Julia White, from Twitter UK, said,
Periscope gives people and communities the opportunity to live broadcast everything from on-the-spot breaking news through to individual reflections. It's great to see the Church of England taking the best of what they have to offer and using Periscope to show it live across the world.
- Periscope is a video streaming app from Twitter that allows users to live stream video from their mobile devices all over the world.