WhatsApp Church

It's all too easy to be a bit negative about the current situation, and to be honest that is quite often my default position, but there is also much to be thankful for.

This Sunday was a great example of something to be thankful for!

Sundays are for church, or at least they always used to be before the lockdown, but this left The Gathering with a bit of a headache.

Most of our pastor friends and churches we know were quite excited about their online churches which would be happening in place of their regular gatherings, and I have to admit to feeling pleased for them and a touch jealous.

For The Gathering doing online church via live streams just isn't a viable option as most of our members don't enjoy the privileges of a fixed broadband internet connection, rather, they buy data in 20mb or 50mb bundles which are never going to allow for following a live stream.

After much thinking and praying about it I had the idea of taking church on to WhatsApp. Many locals get WhatsApp bundles on their phones and generally the data usage on the platform is way less than many other social media platforms.

Well, all I can say is that it was brilliant and judging from the feedback from our members it was a roaring success and we'll be doing it again next Sunday.  In fact it was so good we will also use it this Wednesday night for our weekly prayer group.

What I really loved was the live interaction with our members. One of the things we hold dear in the life of The Gathering is congregationally led worship with members being free to contribute a word, a scripture a testimony or an encouragement, so it was great to be able to keep that element of our Gatherings going.

Sunday really was something to be thankful for!