CHRISTIANS will still be able to worship communally on Sunday despite their churches being closed.

All Church of England, Roman Catholic and Methodist churches in England have been advised not to hold public worship until the end of the epidemic.

Some parishes have already started streaming services via Facebook and YouTube.

Mark Kingaby-Daly, pastoral assistant for Holy Trinity, Micklegate, told other churches: “Just do it! As long as you have a mobile phone and some half-decent signal, then it can be done. Just try it and see!”

His church started regular live streaming mid-week when their normal attendance of three to ten people for their Wednesday service became at least 15 online, including one parishioner in Canterbury.

“It was interesting to see the likes and comments that were coming in. If you’re in a service with people in front of you, you might get a facial expression or a comment on a sermon, but this was a different interaction, and it’ll be quite nice to see over the coming weeks how people react and how this develops.”

Holy Trinity, Micklegate will be broadcasting its 11am service on Sunday, with the live stream starting at 10.55am.

As well as the live video service the Church of England church will set up a mobile phone to receive conference calls during the service.

Our Lady's RC Church in Acomb will be streaming Mass at 10am on Sunday and has set up a YouTube channel so it can stream on both YouTube and Facebook.

It ran a trial streaming of its 5pm last weekend when about 100 people tuning in at different times, including one in New York. Its Facebook streaming also included a text commentary.

Parish priest Father Tony Lester said: "We were surprised just how many people were looking at it.

“There is clearly an audience and a need for it. We are trying to meet their need.”

No Methodist churches in York have announced so far that they will be streaming services but the denomination's national website has lists of churches elsewhere that will be streaming services and worship sheets so that Methodists can worship at home.

If your parish is planning to stream services, let us know by contacting megi.rychlikova@nqyne.co.uk.