Live streams, tickets and double the services: What a Covid Christmas means for our churches
The Covid Christmas of 2020 has forced churches across the region to adapt - with live streaming, tickets and double the services.
With all of the Black Country, Staffordshire and Birmingham under Tier 3 restrictions, churches have had to adapt their Christmas services to reflect restrictions on communal singing and numbers allowed inside.
St Peter’s Church in Wolverhampton would traditionally hold services which allowed the church to be filled with worshippers singing carols and celebrating the festive season.
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This year, it has had to make changes to how it runs services due to the current restrictions, as rector Rev David Wright explained.
He said: “The main difference is that we are having to do every service twice due to the numbers we normally get at our services.
“We’re also having to ticket it and have admission by ticket to ensure that we don’t go over the Covid-secure limit, with all the tickets available on Eventbrite.
“However, we have also been able to live-stream all of our main services from the church, so we are able to reach more people than in previous years.”
St Peter’s will be holding services across Christmas Eve, with a nativity service with candles at 12pm, a nativity service with candles at 3pm, choral eucharist by candlelight at 9pm and midnight mass by candlelight at 11.30pm.
It will be joined by churches for the St Newman Cluster, who will be holding an 8.30am service at St Mary's Church in Willenhall, then a 10.30am service at St Joseph's Church in Wolverhampton on Christmas Day.
Rev. Richard Grigson, rector of the Collegiate Church of Saint Mary in Stafford, said the church had worked hard to ensure people could all feel part of the church at Christmas, whether attending in person or watching online.
He said: “We had to be aware that many people would not be able to worship with us this year for one reason or another.
“We decided to make sure that we included everybody, whether they were able to get to church or whether they were watching services online.
“We have been able to run the same services as previous years, albeit with limited numbers, while we have streamed other services like Christingle and carol services.”
To find out more about St Peter’s Church and get a ticket to a service, go to facebook.com/StPetersChurchWolverhampton/
To find out more about St Mary’s Church and view a service, go to facebook.com/The-Collegiate-Church-of-St-Mary-907795772608611
