Online church services for Burnley and Pendle parishioners

As the coronavirus lockdown continues, congregations are unable to worship together as churches remain closed.

However, the Rt Rev. Philip North, Bishop of Burnley, who is chairing the Diocesan Coronavirus Task Group, said: “Holy Week is one the highlights of the Christian calendar as we live the events of the dying and rising of Christ and renew our faith and hope in the resurrection.

“It is particularly important to acknowledge that for the priests and lay leaders of our churches, as well as the congregations we serve, to be deprived of the opportunity of gathering on Easter Day will cause deep pain.

“At the same time, I am encouraged by the response from all our parishes and our Cathedral in Blackburn in these difficult times in creatively producing digital content for people to engage with online.

“In addition, the Bishop of Blackburn, the Bishop of Lancaster and I have been able to record services for viewing on our Diocesan YouTube channel; where you can also find our annual Easter messages to the Diocese. There are also a host of fantastic Holy Week digital resources available on the Diocesan website.

“We are seeing terrific responses to all our online video content in these times – much higher viewing figures than before the crisis. It seems people everywhere are hungry to hear more of the transformative truth of the Resurrection of Jesus that we celebrate at Easter.

“We pray that, as well as serving our usual congregations that through our combined digital presence, we are reaching new people who may decide to come to visit our churches and learn more about God when the virus outbreak is finally over.”