We’ve come a long way from the early efforts to continue worshipping together during lockdown and have settled into a pattern where we are joined each week by between 6 and 12 worshippers from home, with online operations run by John Mitchell, Eunice Nortey or me.
There are many reasons why people can’t join in person, but what holds people in common is that without Zoom worship the services at St. Andrew’s – and possibly any worship at all – would not be accessible. Worshippers online are very loyal. Too frail to travel, or living too far from church – we have worshippers in Wales, France and around London – and on holiday from just about anywhere!
The Zoom operator on the sound desk sets up a good half an hour before the service using two laptops. The one on the pulpit to see the worship leader and readers, and to pick up their voice, and the one on the sound desk, the Zoom ‘host’, to pick up a wider view of the church – though it can only ‘see’ the front few rows of seats, immediately in front of the pulpit. The operator is usually able to share the text of hymns and readings with the worshippers at home.
A lot can go wrong, and frequently does! Wi-Fi connections going down and the laptops taking software and security updates are two of the most common issues. But any combination of new and unfamiliar problems can hit and there are always new things to keep the operator on their toes. When problems really hit it can be difficult for the operator to feel ‘present’ in the service – there is a lot of running around and it can start to feel like a TV outside broadcast gone wrong! But there are many Sundays when the operation runs pretty smoothly and it is also possible to play out the slides to the projector from a third laptop, on the Zoom / Sound desk.
We’re always looking to make improvements and one recent, small, innovation has been to move the pulpit laptop during Holy Communion to the Communion Table, allowing this to take place in the familiar way and yet be closely followed by those at home.
St. Andrew’s aims to continue to offer Zoom worship for as long as it is used and useful.
Peter Knowles
Please contact the Minister for the passcode if you’re joining our worship online for the first time
