On March 28th, 2021 All Saints Anglican Church in the Algarve has 2 things to celebrate. The first is celebrated every year on the Sunday before Easter – Palm Sunday, When Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem and was greeted with overwhelming joy by the crowds who came to meet him.
The second is a celebration of one year since the very first virtual, live and interactive Palm Sunday service was held on the Zoom platform.
“The first virtual Service was on April 5th 2020, and we had a huge learning curve to climb” says Rev’d Mike Clarkson, Priest of All Saints Anglican Church Almancil. “We put together a “Zoom Service Team” and gave them very little time to do everything they needed to do to make this happen, including educating the Congregation how to use Zoom, stepped out in faith, took a deep breath and plunged right in!”
“Since then, the “Zoom Service Team have become more proficient each week and this flexible and dynamic platform has allowed us to introduce new techniques and presentations into the Service. We now regularly use short videos to tell a story or introduce a message or feature a Guest Speaker as we did on Mothering Sunday or talk about the exciting upcoming experiences like Alpha or our on-line All Saints Adventures”.
“But more than that - during the weeks that have followed our Congregation has grown, and old friends, family and Ministers no longer in the Algarve have become regular members of our new local and international on -line Congregation. Suddenly travel time and location are no longer an issue” says Janet Martin, All Saints Warden in Almancil. “In a time when Congregations are shrinking, and churches are closing throughout the world our regular on-line Congregation is up year on year by a huge 15%.
So what happens during an All Saints Anglican Church on-line Worship Service?
The vehicle that All saints has developed is live and interactive at every stage of the Service, involving the Congregation in reading of the Lessons, leading prayers, singing their favourite and not so favourite hymns, a time of notices so everyone knows future events and activities, it even allows for a time of fellowship post the service when people can come together to just talk and spend time with each other.
“But don’t just take our word for it “says Janet “come and join us and see for yourself. You will be very welcome, and Palm Sunday is an ideal celebration to start with. Just contact Ann, our Secretary, and she will talk you through it and make sure you are all set ready for Sunday morning at 10.30am. But remember to set your clocks one hour forward the night before as we make the change to Summertime”.
All Saints Anglican Church Algarve One Church - LIVE: on-line or in-person.
For more information please contact:
Webpage : www.allsaintsalgarve.church
Facebook : www.facebook.com/allsaintsalgarve
Telephone number : (+351) 932 841 943
Email : secretary@allsaintsalgarve.org
About All Saints Anglican Church Algarve : Almancil
We are an Anglican Church (part of the Worldwide Anglican Communion) providing contemporary and relevant worship with strong Biblical teaching for the 21st Century.
We are active in outreach, teaching and ministry to young people. Our responsibility is to the rapidly growing foreign expatriate community in the Algarve. Our doors are wide open to people from all backgrounds and nationalities who wish to join us on our faith journey of following Jesus Christ.
We welcome visitors who are encouraged to join us in Worship and in our social activities. In pre pandemic times we celebrate Holy Communion every Sunday morning at Almancil at 10:30 and Lagoa at 11:00.
For more information : Secretary@allsaintsalgarve.org
