The Diocesan Communications Team hosted a series of Online Church webinars to support parishes with using digital communications in their mission and ministry.
Each webinar, focuses on a particular theme of digital communications and offers practical advice on areas such as:
- Video and livestreaming
- Zoom and YouTube
- Facebook Live
- E-mail, WhatsApp and websites
Recordings of the webinars can be found on the links below:
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Online church for ministry with children and young people
Our diocesan youth advisors spoke with young Christians and about their views on online church and social media.The young people answered partcipants questions in a Q and A session.
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What next for online church?
This session explored 'What next for online church?' We were joined by guest speakers, the Revd Alex Jeewan, Team Vicar for Saffron Walden and Villages, the Revd Caroline Beckett, Vicar of St James Brightlingsea and the Revd Alan Moss, Pioneer Minister and Associate Priest in Walthamstow.
They shared their experiances and spoke about the challenges and opportunities of online church from three very different contexts in our diocese.
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How can digital communications help us engage with our local communities this Christmas?
During this webinar we will heard from guest speakers from different parts of the diocese who shared how they are planning to use digital communications in their ministry to help engage with communities this Christmas.
Participants had the opportunity to share their own plans, ideas and ask questions as we looked at using digital alongside traditional ministry at Christmas time.
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What next? Hybrid church as we emerge from the Pandemic
Our guest speaker for this webinar was Pete Philips, Digital Theologian at Durham University and Head of Digital Theology at Premier Christian Radio. Pete shared insights on the future of online church. Participants shared their own experiences, ideas and concerns as we looked at, what next for online church?
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Transfer, translate or transform: Where are we with online church?
This session explored how worshipping communities have adapted to digital ministry during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic and the learning so far. Looking at insight drawn from church leaders around the globe, gleaned from both practice and theory, we expliored a new framework - Transfer, Translate, Transform.
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Nuts and bolts: Video and livestreaming
This webinar covered the basics of video and live streaming including:
- Equipment
- Production
- Software for editing and streaming
- Live streaming, pre recording and platforms (Zoom, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram)
- Promoting online worship
- Licensing, safeguarding and data protection
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The Basics: YouTube and Zoom for churches
This session covers the basics of YouTube and Zoom and is aimed at those who are looking to use these platforms for the first time. YouTube is great for sharing pre-recorded services which means you don’t need an internet connection in your church. We will go through how to set up a YouTube account, how to start recording and how to upload a video to YouTube, as well as how to promote and share the videos with your church community.
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The Basics: Facebook Live for churches
This session will cover the basics of live streaming church services using Facebook Live on a mobile phone and is aimed at those who are looking to use this platform to live stream for the first time. We will look at how to set up a live video post, how to schedule a live broadcast and practical tips for going live on Facebook.
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Digital Foundations: Building a digital mission strategy for your community
In this session we considered the importance of developing a digital mission strategy for our worshipping communities that goes beyond ‘come to us’ thinking and seeks to utilise digital platforms as way to be incarnational both online and off. We will hear from some early stage practitioners and consider how we can make the most of our digital comms and online presence.
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Evangelism in a digital world
This session considered the role of digital evangelism and how our church communities can better navigate the complicated and ever-increasing social landscape of the online space and bring the good news of Christ into its midst in new and innovative ways.
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Nuts and bolts 3: The use of other Digital Tools
This session covered the use of other digital tools such as Email, WhatsApp and websites and the practicalities of using them. We were also joined by guests from across the diocese who share their own experience of using these tools.
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Digital Theology: The emergence of Hybrid church
For the past several decades there has been a larger cultural shift taking place known as the Digital Revolution. Some have ignored it, some have watched from a distance and some have whole heartedly embraced it. Wherever we stood on this emerging digital age before the Covid 19 pandemic we have now all been thrust into its midst and forced to answer a set of bigger questions such as, What is church? & What does it look like in a digital landscape?
This session drew on the wisdom and insight of those theological scholars and digital entrepreneurs who have been considering this question for decades before the pandemic took hold and have coined the term, Physical & Digital Hybrid Church. Is this the future?
