Hybrid ministry opens doors wider

All Saints, Peterborough began its hybrid ministry journey, as many did, during the COVID-19 crisis. The church started simply, using a phone to livestream its worship service to Facebook, but after a few weeks, it noticed some simple mistakes, such as the camera being flipped the wrong way so that the words were illegible. It wasn’t working out for them, so they spent most of a $40,000 budget hiring a professional to set up a better system, including three large screens for their livestream and PowerPoint. Now, they livestream to YouTube, with an average audience of about 20 people a week.

Not only do the livestreams allow parishioners to stay connected when they can’t make it to worship services in person due to mobility issues, work or other obstacles, but they’ve attracted followers from around the world. One woman in Costa Rica, who has never been to Peterborough, is a regular viewer and has e-transferred donations twice. Previously, it would have been almost impossible to support any church except those that were nearby, but now a parish can have dedicated worshippers from around the globe. Not only can each church have a broader reach, but online attendees have an expanse of options to find their favourite parish.

All Saints, Peterborough has the financial resources to go to the top of the game. Its hybrid motto is “don’t piecemeal it.” Go for the gold, or, barring that, get the help of someone who’s really good and put it together over time. Decide on an end goal and phase it in. The church recommends that other parishes reach out to companies, such as Maars Music, if necessary for assistance. As a result of doing that, All Saints has a rather complex and sophisticated setup, with three cameras for optimal angles and software that can handle both the livestream and PowerPoint.

The livestreams are run by the church’s tech “scholars.” Similar to the parish’s choral scholars – high school and university students in musical education and sometimes interested in learning another language – the tech scholars are paid an honorarium for their work. Each livestream is managed by two of the five rotating scholars, one running the livestream and the other handling the PowerPoint. Although presets and fade-ins are already programmed to make tasks such as switching to the right camera at the right time easier, the skills of the two scholars at the back of the church are what makes the livestream run smoothly.

Or as smoothly as it can, anyway. Despite the church’s professional setup and talented scholars, there will always be a bit of what the Rev. Samantha Caravan, incumbent, calls “holy chaos” – the interruptions of restless children or a parishioner’s coughing fit… the little exclamations of life that no gathering is without. Mistakes are part of everyone’s experience, in-person or hybrid. While having cameras on you can give you a sense of pressure to perform, she says, holy chaos forces everyone to just roll with it; as a result, hosting the livestreams isn’t stressful.

Rev. Caravan, who has been at All Saints for six years, has been changing the language used in the church to be more inclusive, such as no gendered language for God. This is appealing to a lot of newcomers to the church, who feel more comfortable and at home with language that better includes them. Beyond the worship services, the church hosts all-candidates meetings and political debates, as well as Truth and Reconciliation opportunities; people outside the parish can tune in for one of these events. They can also choose to leave their name and contact info if they wish or join an upcoming in-person event.

The church does everything it can to ensure that the hybrid attendees receive the same care and availability as the in-person ones – short of mailing out Communion wafers, as one hybrid attendee had hoped might be possible. Even something as simple as speaking to the camera can make those at home feel as though they are there. This is especially important during life events such as funerals or weddings, which the church will sometimes livestream so that family members who can’t attend in person aren’t left out. Services like this are an important addition to what the church provides, and it’s all made possible by the inclusion of this new hybrid technology.

For more information, visit www.toronto.anglican.ca/parish-resources/hybrid-ministry.