Connecting to the kingdom

In the digital age, not being able to get online excludes people from fully participating in society. “Are you even a citizen if you can’t access government websites or the NHS app?” asks the Revd Rachel Moss.

The East Staffordshire and South Derbyshire Methodist Circuit has developed a church online known as The Stream. This church meets for worship, Bible study and prayer online using Zoom. Those who attend are primarily folks for whom travelling to their local Methodist church is too far but it allows them to continue to form, and be part of, a Methodist community. Worship is not live-streamed from a church building, but all participate – preacher, worship leader and congregation from wherever they are in the world – connected by the power of the Spirit and a WiFi-connection!

The Stream has also welcomed members for whom worshipping in a church building is just not physically possible. For example, one member who is bed bound and uses a specially adapted computer to join the services on Zoom, says, “I look forward each week to the services online. I’ve not been able to worship or feel like I’m part of a community for many years. This has been a lifeline and I feel part of a loving, caring church.”

We use Jangala’s Get Box, a cost-effective internet connectivity device that provides secure and reliable Wi-Fi for ten users at a time, so is suitable for churches, community spaces and households. The Get Box provides mobile internet access which, while not enough to play movies for example, does allow access to webpages, emails and apps such as Zoom. The equipment is on a permanent loan from Jangala and comes with 12 months of free data – after which the device can still be used with a low-cost sim card.

The Spirit definitely seemed to be at work the day I went to the local retirement village to connect a member’s laptop to her TV, so that others from the retirement village who didn’t have access to the internet could gather together to join in the online service being held on The Stream, literally plugging people into the kingdom.

The Revd Rachel Moss is a presbyter in the East Staffordshire and South Derbyshire Methodist Circuit, former IT Trainer in the NHS and Digital Theology student at Spurgeon’s College.