‘At the most basic level, we’ve bought globe and strip lights to warm the City Road Baptist Church which we’re kindly allowed to use,’ said Secretary Abi Reid. ‘We’ve also got a projector to display words for worship, and a sound desk and microphones to record talks to share with members and non-Christian friends.

 

‘But digital is the new local, so we’re active on things like Instagram and Facebook. We’ve had people find us online, meet us for a coffee, and six months later they’re regular attenders at services. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that churches these days need an interesting and changing social media presence – uploading pictures of the people, not just the buildings.

 

‘The other thing that tech can give you is organisation. We use a program called ChurchSuite, which allows you to manage everything from rotas to church bookings to giving, all in one electronic space. It has been key in ensuring we are GDPR compliant and can communicate with the congregation through its integration with MailChimp. Subscribing to ChurchSuite eased administrative pressure in a very quick and easy way and provided a centralised planning system.

 

‘We recognise our congregation is made of people from different backgrounds and a commonality is our enjoyment of music. So we also use Spotify and Apple music to create playlists with everything from hymns to music by the likes of Justin Bieber – anything, as long as it’s appropriate and has the right message. These playlists have engaged everyone, especially those on the outskirts.

 

‘We’re really grateful to Baptist Insurance for their support and we’ll probably put the prize money back into tech. We could do with a new projector, and I think we’ll also be subscribing to SongSelect, which is software with the lyrics and chords and arrangements for worship music.

 

‘Without these investments in technology, our church wouldn't exist, or if it did it would be at least half the size and full of chaos. Thank God for technology.’