Dover churches are rising to the challenges posed by lockdown by producing online services - and some are reaching greater audiences than usual.

One of these - One Church - reports around 500 households accessing their online service over the course of a week.

Christians Together in Dover (CTID), is a charity formed of many denominations which has been involved in co-ordinating the online services.

Its secretary Yvonne Bryant said: "At a time when many have time to consider the bigger questions in life, we asked whether the church was going to see a rise in its congregations, albeit virtual ones."

The answer was certainly yes for One Church, where Mrs Bryant attends.

She said those 500 views, and similar figures in later weeks, far exceeded its usual congregation made up of members of the merged Ark and Living Well churches.

Fr Jeff Cridland, priest at St Paul's Dover, which is part of The Parish of the Good Shepherd, said: "We have averaged 120 people each day since we went ‘live’ on Sunday, March 29, from 50 countries worldwide.

"I've been so delighted by the way the churches are responding to this current need with coronavirus..."

"On Easter Sunday we had 185 people viewing morning Mass."

The services give non-church goers and potential members the chance to watch multiple services to see what is going on in the local Christian community.

Regular attendees can catch up at a time to suit them throughout the week if they have missed the live services. It is this flexibility that has provided more access to the sermons.

Fr Cridland said that one attendee told him via email: "Good Shepherd is really unusual in the way everyone is being kept together during this crisis. It is a real family."

Another praised the Roman Catholic church for "getting it right" from the top where the Pope enforced the stay at home message from an empty St Peters Basilica.

And Gary Moore, pastor and charity trustee at The Lighthouse Church (Dover) said "The church is meeting people where they are, just as they are."

Greg Bridges, the new chairman of CTID said: "I've been so delighted by the way the churches are responding to this current need with coronavirus."

He said "geography means nothing" and the online castings are an opportunity for people to delve into what's happening in other denominations.

He hopes increased connectivity might be the "silver lining" in the covid-19 crisis giving an "unprecedented opportunity to touch the lives of the people in Dover with a message of hope."

CTID has compiled a list of the different offerings produced by local churches.

To sample the services click on the names of each church below.

One Church at The Arc, Noah's Arc Road,

St Mary's in Cannon Street,

St Peter and Paul, Charlton in St Alphege Road,

St Martin's in Church Road,

Buckland chuches of St Andrew's in Crabble Meadows and St Nicholas in The Linces,

Guston,

Aylesham Baptist Church in Dorman Avenue South,

River Parish Church in Minnis Lane,

St Paul's in Maison Dieu Road.

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