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Virtual worship is second best for leaders and led  

by
11 February 2022

Leslie Francis and Andrew Village compare reported experience of socially distanced and online services

WHEN the first national lockdown came into force on 23 March 2020, the Government and the Church acted quickly and decisively. Church doors were locked. The digital revolution took hold. Clergy and lay ministers who may never have imagined themselves as curators of virtual church suddenly stepped up to the task. Faithful churchgoers stayed barricaded behind their closed front doors and joined worship on their laptops, iPads, and smartphones.

In the face of such radical change, all was far from business as usual.

By the time of the third national lockdown, in January 2021, we were beginning to wonder about the spiritual and emotional cost of sustaining online worship, both on those delivering it and on those accessing it.

We were also curious about the spiritual and emotional impact of the post-lockdown journey back to off-line services and to hybrid modes of delivery. When the church doors were unlocked, and clergy and laity were invited to return to socially distanced services, this was not back to church as we knew it, either for ministers or for participants.

Did priests presiding behind face masks find leading in-church services more or less stressful, more or less spiritually rewarding, than pre-recording or live-streaming worship from their homes or churches? Did lay people find booking a seat in advance and sitting two metres away from their neighbours more or less spiritually rewarding than singing along on Facebook or tuning into YouTube?


THE Covid-19 and Church-21 Survey that was live between 22 January and 23 July 2021 was designed to address these questions, and did so by rating and comparing affective responses to pre-recorded services, live-streamed services, and socially distanced in-church services. The survey generated full responses from 2017 Anglicans living in England, and allowed us to distinguish between those who led worship and those who accessed worship.

Our key question to those leading worship was to rate how spiritually rewarding they found the three different activities. Fewer than half (48 per cent) found leading pre-recorded services spiritually rewarding. The proportion rose to 61 per cent who found leading live-streamed services spiritually rewarding, and to 74 per cent who found leading socially distanced in-church services spiritually rewarding.

To gauge positive affect, we asked how energising they found the three different activities. Under half (47 per cent) found leading pre-recorded services energising. The proportions rose to 55 per cent who found leading live-streamed services energising, and to 56 per cent who found leading socially distanced in-church services energising.

To gauge negative affect, we asked how detached they found themselves in relation to the three different activities. Just under half (47 per cent) felt detached when leading pre-recorded services. The proportions fell to 27 per cent who felt detached leading live-streamed services, and to 23 per cent who felt detached leading socially distanced in-church services.

Online worship was clearly second best for those leading services, even compared with socially distanced in-church services.


OUR key question to those accessing worship was to rate how fulfilling they found the three different activities. Just over one third (36 per cent) felt fulfilled by pre-recorded services. The proportion rose marginally to 38 per cent who felt fulfilled by live-streamed services, and then to 56 per cent who felt fulfilled by in-church socially distanced services.

To gauge positive affect, we asked how energising they found the three different activities. Fewer than half (45 per cent) found that they were energised by pre-recorded services. The proportions rose to 50 per cent who were energised by live-streamed services, and to 55 per cent who were energised by in-church socially distanced services.

To gauge negative affect, we asked how detached they found themselves in relation to the three different activities. Two in every five (41 per cent) felt detached from pre-recorded services. The proportions fell to 33 per cent who felt detached from live-streamed services, and to 18 per cent who felt detached from in-church socially distanced services.

Online worship was clearly second best for those accessing services, even compared with socially distanced in-church services.

We are looking at these results in more detail to see how experience of worship varies across different groups in the Church. For now, it seems that, while the migration to online worship may have been crucial to managing a short-term emergency, longer-term sustainability may prove to be more problematic both for those leading and for those accessing worship.

The Revd Andrew Village is Professor of Practical and Empirical Theology, and Canon Leslie J. Francis is Visiting Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, at York St John University.

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