How can I listen to a church talk if I don’t use the internet ?

Do you remember when some churches had cassette libraries for all the recorded sermons? Now everything is online, but how do you access this if you don’t have the internet? There’s a new solution, and it seems to be solving the problem.

Cassettes may have made a recent cult resurgence, but sermon cassettes certainly haven’t. Instead, podcasts and online recordings mean that people can hear the Sunday talk at any time and from anywhere. The problem is the digital gap: those who managed to get by without the internet before, but now can’t go to church on a Sunday, and still hanker after teaching and a sense of connection with what everyone else is hearing.

Grace Church in Muswell Hill, Holland Road Baptist Church in Brighton and a number of FIEC churches are among those who have recently explored a technical solution so that people phone a local number and hear a recording of your church podcast or sermon recording. They will only be charged a local charge, or, if they have ‘free minutes’ it will cost them nothing at all.

They will hear a short automated welcome message, then will hear the preacher exactly as they have been recorded. Put it on speaker and you have a sermon in your living room, even without WiFi!

There is a certain amount of setup required, but it will help your non-internet congregation feel connected. This is an excellent way to ensure that many elderly church members can make full use of your church technical capabilities.

Full technical instructions to set this up are here.

There is more technical advice for churches during Covid-19 here.

Read more on our blog about older people who are not online here.