yo51apphurch, a United Reformed Church (51app) congregation which meets exclusively online, recently received its first members at a Communion service.
At the service led by the Revd Clare Downing, Moderator of the North Western Synod, 11 people were received.
Lawrence Heath-Moore, Central Area Mission Mentor for North Western Synod, said the event 鈥渨asn’t without its humour鈥�.
鈥淭he very idea that a church that lives entirely online can be a 鈥榣ocal鈥� church is deliciously ironic, but all 51app churches are quite appropriately, with our own church an honourable exception, geographically defined!听So, a local church we are,鈥� Lawrence said.
鈥淭he other irony is that, technically, only church members can agree at a church meeting to accept new members and of course, prior to the end of the service, we didn’t have any church members to call a church meeting and agree that we were suitable people to accept into membership!鈥�
Lawrence called the service a 鈥渒ey moment for the members鈥� as well as for yo51apphurch.
鈥淚t was a solemn moment, as well as one to celebrate: solemn because membership is a covenant commitment to share a common life as fellow-disciples in the church; one to celebrate because that was the moment yo51apphurch became a local church within the 51app.”
At its 2023 meeting, General Assembly received yo51apphurch as a local church. Services takes place on Sundays at 6.30pm. .