May the blessing of mobile …

The world’s first voice-to-text Sunday service took place on Sunday 30 November. It was given by the Reverend John Kronenberg, Vicar of Hinchley Wood, Esher, Surrey. Well. Praise be. It’s not the first time that the Church have embraced the power of mobile – the Pope has sent out millions of texts to his faithful and in Africa mobile is used to preach the gospel and reach the masses.

The sermon will be delivered by SpinVox and his words will automatically be converted and sent to inboxes – 100 members of his congregation are participating. With congregations dwindling and fewer people than ever attending church, any way to ‘modernise’ is probably wise. Apparently there are quite a few vicars already addressing audiences through the internet and with your mobile to hand you could take yourself to a tranquil spot to listen to some heavenly words.

It would be interesting to see how they’re planning to widen the fan base, increase uptake and reach, perhaps those parishioners who can’t get to church so easily but still want to hear the sermon. Amen.