Parramatta: St John’s Anglican Cathedral to live stream services

Worshippers at a western Sydney parish will trade church pews for their living room couch as part of a tech-savvy approach to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.

St John's Anglican parishioners at Parramatta.

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St John’s Anglican Cathedral at Parramatta will start live streaming services from Sunday in an effort to stop worshippers forming large gatherings during the coronavirus outbreak.

It could also give many the chance to “re-engage” with their spirituality.

The church at Centenary Square, in the centre of Parramatta, holds six English-speaking services, two in Mandarin and Cantonese, and two in Farsi each Sunday, drawing 1000 churchgoers.

Minister David Ould with parishioner Marc Safari at St John's Anglican Cathedral, which will turn away crowds from Sunday.

Senior associate minister David Ould said anecdotal evidence from Italy suggested their online audience could eclipse the figure of the congregation who physically attend services.

The call to prayer will be held from Hunter St.

“There’s a lot of people who normally wouldn’t go to church but are using this opportunity to re-engage,’’ he said.

“Lots of our church family are savvy and I’ve been surprised with how many are older members. We’re working very hard to include as many people as possible.’’

The coronavirus pandemic, like many disasters, is also bringing out a spiritual side to the community.

On Thursday, St John’s Anglican, along with the Sydney and Wollongong cathedrals, will host a call to prayer.

The bells of each cathedral will ring at noon for several minutes, calling for the public to stop and pray.

St John’s senior minister Bruce Morrison or Mr Ould will then lead brief prayers on the steps of the cathedral’s Hunter St entrance and pray for community leaders and people with coronavirus — while observing new guidelines.

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“We will encourage them to maintain a social distancing,’’ Mr Ould said.

“I imagine there’s a whole bunch of people in Parramatta who don’t know what to do because of the coronavirus and this is a moment of stability in the middle of the week.

“We want to love people and care for them at this time.’’

“God’s still trustworthy and we can still ask Him for help.”

The Anglican Church said the public prayers were the first it has held since World War II.