The Very Rev’d Bertrand Olivier is the Dean of Montreal and the Rector of Christ Church Cathedral
Do not worry: The cathedral is still very much focused on the worship of God as incarnated in Jesus Christ and in the power of the spirit. What this article is not about is worship content as – in the good Anglican tradition – we are all probably doing things slightly differently as is appropriate.
What I am describing here is the solution the Cathedral has used to move from Zoom only worship, as we experienced from the beginning of the first lock-down, to a blended technological form which allows us to worship together as one community even though some have returned to the cathedral building, while others continue to join us on Zoom.
From the beginning, it was important to us that no one should be left behind or feel excluded. Maintaining the integrity of the community was paramount and this is why we decided to go down this particular route.
This solution would work either as a transitional set up for a larger church, or a permanent solution for a smaller building. Whilst it needs someone with some technical knowledge initially, it is pretty easy to run once installed.
Like any other choice, it has pluses and minuses, but it helped us achieve our objectives.
The system allowed us to:
- gather on Zoom and in the Cathedral for the same acts of worship
- enable those on Zoom to see the action at the cathedral and benefit from the liturgy and the music
- enable those on Zoom to continue to be part of the reading and intercession rota and to be broadcast into the cathedral
- enable those in person to see some of the Zoom participants, as well as see and hear Zoom readers and intercessors
How we did it:
- We invested in a Mevo camera (see mevo.com), that has good microphones and can be controlled through a smartphone. As such, it provides the possibility of changing the view remotely.
- The Mevo app was linked wirelessly to a Mac laptop, allowing the Mevo camera to become a virtual camera into Zoom.
- We ran Zoom on the Mac, choosing Mevo as the Zoom Video and Audio input. The picture and sound from the Mevo camera was therefore broadcast as one window into the zoom meeting.
- We ran another instance of Zoom on a separate laptop, which we linked to two large screens using an HDMI splitter and two long HDMI cables. We duplicated the screen from the laptop to those screens, and used them to show the gallery view of the Zoom congregation, and the reader and/or intercessor as necessary.
It was crucial to stop the Mevo sound on the Mac when someone was interacting on Zoom into the church, as well as to switch back when that interaction finished. Otherwise, it was fairly straightforward once up and running.
In order to work seamlessly, this required a tech operator to operate the two laptops and camera in the church, as well as at least one Zoom host to let people in and to share the bulletin on screen.
Otherwise, this was a pretty easy and relatively low cost system to operate
This system was a very good way of transitioning back to in-person worship for the cathedral community, and it ensured that everyone felt that they were included in the plans. We used it from the start at our three morning services and evensong. People on Zoom enjoyed the interaction, and for many, seeing the altar and the familiar surroundings of the Cathedral was quite an emotional experience after months of seeing the clergy lead and preach from their homes.
For those who were happy to attend in-person worship, it was a reminder that, while we were small in numbers in the building, there was a wider cloud of witnesses joining us through the internet.
Overall, it took a little while for members of our congregation to adjust to a more liturgical format (as opposed to the informality of the Zoom worship) as well as the slightly more echoey sound from the cathedral.
The advantage of the Mevo camera is that it is also a camera with livestreaming abilities, so it can on livestream directly to FB Live or YouTube, providing better editing options than a standard iPhone camera. We used this function to livestream Evensong on our FB page.
For the Cathedral, it is clear that hybrid worship is here to stay, and we have now invested in further professional equipment so that we may continue to gather those who are not ready to come back in person and of course to maintain a connection with our shut-ins and others who had not been able to join us for some time. We are delighted that we have been able to rekindle a connection with old friends of the Cathedral in these strange times. There were some silver linings in the clouds of Covid-19.
Questions? Email me [email protected]
