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As churches across Kent are forced to close their doors, many are turning to technology to make sure parishioners can still worship.

In a joint letter, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York announced on Tuesday that all public worship would be put on hold in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Justin Welby and John Sentamu called for Mothering Sunday this weekend to be made a day of prayer and action - particularly remembering the sick, anxious, and those working in the health and emergency services.

St Mark’s Church, Gillingham is among those that will be broadcasting services online.

Operations manager, Rob Byrne, said: “The churches do so much on the ground and what we’re having to do essentially is find new way, inventive ways and creative ways of reaching parishioners.

“We have had to think on our feet a lot, one thing that has come up is copyright.

“One would think that if you had the correct licence then you’d be able to broadcast what you want but because places like YouTube and Facebook have their own terms and conditions and that what it comes down to, you have to be really careful with what worship songs you sing.”

The first ever national virtual Church of England service will also take place this weekend.

It will be led by the Archbishop of Canterbury and broadcast on local BBC radio stations.

The service was recorded in the crypt chapel at Lambeth Palace in London and will include hymns sung by a choir from St Martin-in-the-Fields.

As part of his sermon, Justin Welby will say: "In all of the current troubles, and they are very serious troubles, looking inwards will only reveal the limits of our own resources, and lead to deeper fear and selfishness.

“Acting in love found from God in Jesus Christ will do the exact reverse.

"As we look out from ourselves in love, we can enable people to find the place of their nurture, not their historic place but a new place where they meet God and find his consolation.

“As we share our consolation the mother love of God will enfold them.

"As we love the poor, go and give to a foodbank, call on someone who is isolated, do their shopping, pray with and for them, from a distance, we will find that we are deeply consoled by our own gift of consolation.”

St Mary Bredin in Canterbury will also be streaming a service online.

The Revd Canon Barney De Berry said: “Church is far more than just a building, actually the word originally comes from meaning a gathering of people and right at the heart of who we are as a church is the gathering, and so actually I’m very sad we won’t be gathering on Sunday but we can’t.

“We’re trying to gather as far as possible in terms of meeting together online so we’ve been exploring that and that’s what we’ll be doing on Sunday."

“We’re very fortunate here to have a vibrant children’s church, we have well over 50 young people under 16 coming along each Sunday and we’re trying to keep that going as much as possible.

“We’re sending out activity packs for each age group so they have something to do with their families and then they’re going to check in, using an online video conferencing facility, with our children’s worker to reflect on what they’ve been doing.”

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