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“The service was set up by a team of people who found they weren’t working at the start of lockdown and wanted to give something back,” said Sarah. “It’s very simple to use – you record your sound clips and then drag them into the menu structure set out on the website. The site also offers a month’s free trial, so we thought we’d give it a go and see how we got on.” When you sign up via the Faith.Online website, you include your telephone exchange and are given a list of local numbers from which to choose. This can then be passed on to those accessing the service by phone. When they call, they can, for example, press 1 for a ‘thought for the day’, 2 for prayers etc. Sarah aims to upload new content each Sunday and asks a range of people to record different items to make it a more interesting listen. It is also possible live stream using the phone line and the team are working on ways to link it to Facebook and YouTube. “We don’t have a particularly big congregation, so we don’t get huge numbers of people calling in, but it’s definitely valued by those who use it,” continued Sarah. “I received one letter from a parishioner saying how lovely it was because it wasn’t scary – she already knew how to use the phone! It’s now costing us £16 a month so I included a question on a recent survey to check if people were happy to use funds in this way and feedback was overwhelmingly positive. I can see that it’s something that we’ll continue to use in different ways in the longer term.” “Using Faith.Online is a really good way to be more inclusive. The content mirrors what is on the website and sometimes I’ll include unique content on the phone line with a teaser on the website to encourage people to call! Both our website and phone line are definitely allowing people to be more missional – when they know that something they’ve recorded will be featured, they’ll encourage their friends and family to listen in!”
“Alongside making sure the church is ready to welcome people back for worship when appropriate, we’re hoping to put together a ‘thanks track’ around the parish, which people can walk and offer thanks and prayers for different places – helping to remind them that they can pray anywhere, it doesn’t have to be in church,” said Sarah. Find out more about the Faith.online phone line at: https://faith.online/ |
The vicar of St Wulstan’s Church in Warndon, Worcester, Sarah Northall has been using Faith.Online as a way of keeping in touch with members of her congregation during lockdown. The service allows her to record prayers, readings and reflections which congregation members can access through a local-rate phone number.
The phone service is one of St Wulstan’s ‘five ‘ons’’ strategy – on paper, on the phone, online, on site and on the go.
