As some of you will have been aware, we have been investigating the possibilities of broadening the availability of Church services via the internet. Hugh has asked me to explain what we have done and what more we hope to achieve.
The web has become a common and universal presence in the lives of many people. It seems an excellent tool to engage and share with those connected to the internet especially our linked Parishes, the younger generations and those who are unable to make it to the Church anymore.
The internet seems to provide an excellent way to help broaden the reach of St Peter and St Paul’s and, as the internet is worldwide, our scope and reach has increased somewhat.
So what has been done? We have installed broadband into the Church and connected the existing sound system to a video camera which allows internet users to either see or see and hear the Sunday 10:30 service live. We also hope to make an audio recording of each service which will be available to everyone to “listen again” if they miss a service or wish family members to hear a particular service at a later date.
This also applies to selected events within the Church. The 2009 Christmas nativity plays were recorded and there were many people who listened to the recordings of the nativities of the Christmas holiday. I certain inflicted half an hour of this on my children’s grandparents whilst I was doing the veg on Christmas day.
One of the first users of the live broadcast was Featherton House who joined our service last Sunday. The residents were able to watch and hear the entire service. We hope that this will provide an avenue for those who cannot be with us, for whatever reason, a chance to stay in touch.
What next? For a forthcoming baptism we hope to give some godparents who live abroad the ability to both watch the service and make their pledges whilst still at home in New Zealand.
We have asked Radio Horton, Cherwell Radio and Radio Oxford if they would consider broadcasting our worship to their listeners and this has received a positive reaction from the radio stations.
Having internet in the church opens many doors to help communicate with a larger audience and the opportunities are manifold.
Hugh and I have been invited to discuss this on BBC Radio Oxford, Sunday 16th at 8am, please do tune in!
Anyone wishing to see what we are doing is welcome to take a look by visiting
www.deddingtonchurch.org.
If you click on the “listen live” link during the Sunday service you will be able to hear what’s going on. If you’d like to watch and listen then try the “video broadcast” link.
The recordings we’ve made so far can be listened to by clicking on the “Audio Archive of recent services” link which is a little further down the page or you could try this link...
http://www.deddington.org.uk/community/church/parishchurch/archive.
If you have any questions or concerns about the impact that this could have then please do feel free to get in touch.
David Rogers
webmaster@deddingtonchurch.orgwww.deddingtonchurch.org 
