Churches unite to launch Chapel Channel

A group of churches in West Sussex has launched Chapel Channel whose aim is to connect together the more isolated members of churches in their area.

With mostly older congregations, they found few in the five churches were able to access computers, tablets or mobile phones and most were not confident with online technology. No one chapel felt able to run remote services. The leaders of the chapels decided to pool resources and expertise and to run online services together and thus Chapel Channel was born.

Zoom has allowed people to connect via their landline, so people are phoning in to listen to the service. Starting with a 30-minute Sunday service and then adding in a midweek Bible Study, also made available on YouTube, the meetings are kept fairly short as Chapel Channel was conscious of the many telephone users of the service.

‘This has proved to be a vital lifeline for our congregations, and the increased fellowship between the chapels has been a real blessing,’ said Charlie Sanders, Elder of Rudgwick Chapel and member of the Chapel Channel leadership team. The service has been running for most of the past year.

Although live streaming on Facebook and YouTube is common for many churches, en has been told that other less ‘tech connected’ Christians have appreciated discovering ministry using just the landline phone. One church in South Wales has a phone line where the Bible studies and sermons from several weeks can be accessed via a dial-in and select system.