ALL SAINTS’ Church have bought livestreaming equipment with the aim to livestream select future services direct to YouTube. This would mean more people can attend services from the comfort of their own homes and families from far away can virtually attend funerals.
Westbury Parochial Church Council (PCC) received a government grant last year thanks to the Cultural Recovery Fund; a fund set up to combat the unprecedented challenges brought on by Covid-19. The money has been used to install livestreaming equipment into All Saints’ Church and the PCC have agreed to introduce the service gradually, with the aim to introduce monthly livestreamed sessions – the first of which will be on Sunday 13th March at 3pm for their 20th anniversary service.
A spokesperson for All Saints said, “The livestreaming service will be accessible on the White Horse Team Ministry YouTube account which is where you can see all the video messages recorded over the past two years. The services will be viewable by anybody via YouTube. This means we will be able to share our worship with those who are unable to come to church or who might want to find out about us in advance of visiting us.”
The church says that, in general, only the back of your head will be visible; they will give at least one week’s notice of which services are to be livestreamed and their welcome team will be fully briefed and be able to tell you where to sit if you do not wish to be seen. They will also undertake a risk assessment before livestreaming a service should it involve children.
The church spokesperson added, “We have already successfully used the service at funerals where family members are prevented by distance or infirmity from attending and it has been positively received. These services are only available to those with a link and not publicly available.
“I hope that you will agree with the PCC that this is an exciting opportunity to share our worship more widely and pray with us that it brings more people into our community.
“We understand that some people may have a good reason why they don’t wish to be seen on camera. If you need more detail, please contact Beth Thomas or Ruth Hann or discuss any safeguarding issues with Bridget Sanders or Revd Rebecca Harris. For most people there should be no reason to be concerned.”
The White Horse Team Ministry YouTube can be found at www.youtube. com/channel/UCmsZB91jGw01WJqHD48hATA
