Due to current events and the limitations that COVID-19 has had on public gatherings many parishes across our diocese have decided to livestream Sunday services, prayers and acts of worship.

The advice aims to limit any spread of COVID-19 and thus protect communities and the NHS.

The archbishops have called for clergy to livestream services and prayer from their homes or church, so that those who are unable to join them in person can still worship virtually. 

Livestreaming is a great option to continue to engage with your congregation. Not only is it an opportunity to worship together, but offers community for many people who may feel isolated. There are many methods of livestreaming a worship service and our COVID-19 section offers plenty of advice, including how those without the internet can still access worship and what copyright considerations to take into account.

Below is a table with information about what some churches are streaming, along with a link. If you would like to have information included in this table please email details to communications [at] leeds.anglican.org.

Church	What they are streaming	Link
Bradford Episcopal Area
Parish of Girlington, Heaton and Manningham	Sunday Service 10.25am	Link
Kildwick, Cononley and Bradley	Sunday Service 10am, Morning and Evening Prayer 9am and 4.30pm Monday to Thursday	Link
All Saints Bingley	Sunday Holy Communion Service 10.30am	Link
Bradford Cathedral	Sunday Service 10am	Link
All Saints Ilkley	Sunday Service 10.30am	Link
Fountains Church Bradford	Sunday Service 4.30pm	Link
St Margaret's Ilkley	Sunday Service 10.30am	Link
St Peter's Shipley	Sunday Evening Service 6.30pm	Link
St Mary's Oxenhope	Sunday Service 10am	Link
St Paul's Shipley	Sunday Service 10am	Link
Harden, Wilsden, Cullingworth and Denholme Benefice	Daily Morning and Evening Prayer	Link
St John's Great Horton	Sunday Service 10.30am, Morning Prayer 9am	Link
Parish of Baildon	Sunday Service 10am, Messy Church	Link
St James' Thornton	Sunday Service 10am	Link
St James' Bolton	Sunday Service 10.30am, Weekday Morning Prayer 8.45am, Wednesday Night Prayer 7.30pm	Link
All Saints Keighley	Sunday Service 10.30am, Wednesday Service 11am	Link
Keighley Shared Church	Sunday Service 10.30am, Wednesday Family Time 2pm	Link
St John's Bierley	Sunday Mass 10am, Wednesday Mass 10am, Wednesday All Age Service 12.30pm	Link
St Oswald's and All Saints Bradford	Sunday Service 10.30am	Link
St Stephen’s West Bowling & St Matthew’s Bankfoot, Bradford	Sunday Service 11.15am	Link
Parish of Tong and Laisterdyke	Sunday Service	Link
St Margaret's Frizinghall	Sunday Service 10am	Link
St Stephen's Steeton with Eastburn	Online Offerings	Link
Holy Trinity Bingley and St Wilfrid Gilstead	Sunday Service 11am, Wednesday Service 7pm	Link
Huddersfield Episcopal Area
Christ Church Pellon	Sunday morning service and Thought For the Day daily	Link
St Augustine's Halifax	Sunday morning service and Thought For the Day daily	Link
St John's Coley	Sunday morning service and Morning Prayer	Link
Hartshead Hightown Roberttown and Scholes	Sunday Worship 9.30am, Sunday Sing-a-long 11am, Saturday Storytime 11am	Link
All Saints Batley	Sunday Service 11am	Link
Community of the Resurrection Mirfield	Five Daily Services	Link
St Stephen's Lindley	Daily Prayers and Reflections, Junior Church Weekly Challenge	Link
Erringden Benefice	Recorded Sunday Service and Prayers	Link
Holy Trinity Huddersfield	Sunday Service and Morning Prayer	Link
Benefice of Cleckheaton	Sunday Eucharist 12pm, Midday prayer during the week	Link
Dewsbury Team Ministry	Sunday Service 10.30am, Morning Prayer 9am	Link
Holy Nativity Mixenden	Sunday Service 10am, Evening Prayer 6pm	Link
St Saviour's Ravensthorpe	Sunday Service 10am, Midday Mass during the week	Link
Thornhill Parish Church	Sunday and Holy Week Services	Link
St Peter's Birstall	Sunday Service 10am	Link
United Benefice of Todmorden	Morning Prayer 10am, Sunday Service 11am, Sunday Evening Prayer 4pm	Link
Huddersfield Parish Church	Holy Communion 10am, Morning and Evening Prayer	Link
St Thomas' Heponstall and St James' Hebden Bridge	Sunday Service 10.30am, Evening Worship 7.30pm	Link
Christ Church New Mill	Worship resources and meetings	Link
St Martin's Brighouse	Sunday Worship on Zoom 11am	Link
St John's Clifton	Sunday Worship on Zoom 11am	Link
St Johns Church, Golcar	Sunday Service 9.30am	Link
Benefice of Lepton, Emley and Flockton	Sunday Morning Prayer 10.30am, Sunday Evening Praise 6pm, Tuesday School Lesson 10am, Wednesday Reflection 10am, Friday Collective Worship 3pm	Link
All Saints’ Clayton West	Sunday Service 9.15am and Tuesday Service 9.15am	Link
St Augustine’s Scissett	Sunday Service 11am and Tuesday Service 9.15am	Link
Christ the King Battyeford	Sunday Service 10am	Link
Honley and Brockholes	Sunday Service	Link
All Saints Halifax	Sunday Service	Link
St David's Holmbridge	Sunday Morning streamed service, Evening Zoom prayer service	Link
Holy Trinity and St Jude, Halifax	Sunday Service 10am. Tuesday to Saturday 8.30am for morning prayer and Sunday evening compline at 8pm, all on Facebook.	Link
Leeds Episcopal Area
St Edmund's Roundhay	Morning Prayer, Compline, Sunday Morning service 10am and Wednesday service	Link
St George's Leeds	Sunday Morning service 10.30am	Link
Holy Trinity Cookridge	Sunday Mass and prayers an thoughts throughout the week	Link
Holy Trinity Rothwell	Sunday Service	Link
St Peter's Morley	Sunday and Wednesday services, 9.30am	Link
Christ Church Lofthouse	Sunday Eucharist, Midday Prayer and Compline	Link
St Mary's Whitkirk	Sunday Service 10am	Link
St Oswald's Methley	Sunday Service 10.30am	Link
St John the Evangelist Oulton with Woodlesford	Sunday Service 10.30am	Link
St Luke's Holbeck	Sunday Service 10.30am	Link
St Mary's Woodkirk	Prayers throughout the week, with a 10.30am Holy Communion on Sunday	Link
St Peter's Rawdon and Leeds Diocesan Deaf Churches	Accessible Services for the Deaf Community	Link
St Mary's Swillington	Sunday Service 10.30am, prayers throughout the day	Link
St Paul's Morley	Sunday Service 10.30am	Link
All Hallows Leeds	Sunday Service 10.30am, Wednesday Evening 7.00pm	Link
St Stephen's Kirkstall and St Mary's Hawksworth Wood	Sunday Eucharist 10am, Morning Prayer 10.30am	Link
St John's Moor Allerton	Sunday Service 10am	Link
St John's Adel	Sunday Service 10am, Holy Week services	Link
St John's Farsley	Sunday Service, Morning Worship	Link
St John's Yeadon	Sunday Service 10.30am, Midday Prayer Wednesday	Link
St Hilda's Cross Green and St Saviour's Richmond Hill	Sunday Mass 9.30am, Morning Weekday Mass 9am, Various Holy Week services	Link
St Paul's Ireland Wood	Sunday Service 9.30am	Link
Leeds Minster	Daily Reflections	Link
St John's, Wortley and Farnley	Sunday Service 10am, Wednesday Service 10am, Evening Prayer every day at 7pm	Link
St Giles' Bramhope	Sunday Service 9.30am	Link
Elmete Trinity Benefice	Sunday services, daily reflections, longer seasonal reflections and Messy Church	Link
St Mary's Garforth	Sunday Service 10am, Wednesday Night Prayer 8pm	Link
St Stephen’s Moortown	Sunday Service 10.30am, Wednesday Service 10am	Link
St Philip’s, Osmondthorpe	Sunday Service 10.30am, Monday and Wednesday Prayer 12pm	Link
St Wilfrid’s, Halton	Sunday Service 10.30am, Monday and Wednesday Prayer 12pm	Link
St Chad's Far Headingley	Sunday Service	Link
St Michael's Headingley	Sunday Service 10am and daily prayer	Link
St Barnabas' Alwoodley	Sunday Service 10.30am	Link
All Saints Otley	Sunday Service 10.30am	Link
Christ Church Upper Armley	Sunday Service 10.30am, Thursday Virtual Prayer Meeting 8pm	Link
Oakwood Church	Sunday Service 10.15am	Link
Beeston	Sunday Communion Service 9.30am	Link
Ripon Episcopal Area
Bishop Thornton, Burnt Yates, Markington, Ripley and South Stainley	Morning Prayer Monday to Saturday. Wednesday Communion 10am. Sunday Communion 10am	Link
St Mark's Harrogate	Sunday Service 10am. Sunday morning prayer 11am and midday prayer Monday to Friday on YouTube	Link
Ripon Cathedral	Sunday Eucharist 10.30am, Morning and Evening Prayer 8.30am and 6pm	Link
Pannal with Beckwithshaw	Sunday Service 10am	Link
St Wilfrid's Harrogate	Mass 6pm Monday to Friday, 10am on Sunday	Link
Knaresborough Team Ministry	Sunday Service 10.30am	Link
St James' Wetherby	Sunday Service 10am	Link
Parish of Easby, Skeeby, Brompton on Swale and Bolton on Swale	Sunday Service and daily refelctions	Link
Kairos Church Harrogate	Central Gathering 10.45am	Link
St Andrew's Starbeck	Sunday Service 10am	Link
St John’s and St Luke’s Bilton	Children's Service 9.30am, Sunday Service 10.30am	Link
St Peter's High Harrogate	Sunday Services 9.30am and 11am, Morning and Evening Prayer during the week	Link
Holy Trinity Ripon	Thursday Holy Communion 11.30am, Sunday 9am Holy Communion, Sunday 10.30am Morning Worship	Link
Parish of Catterick with Tunstall	10.30am Sunday Service	Link
St. Aidan’s Church Hellifield	Sunday Service 10am	Link
St. Mary’s Church, Long Preston	Sunday Service 10am	Link
Upper Wensleydale	Sunday Service 10.30am	Link
Stanwick Group of Churches	Zoom Sunday Service 9am, other Zoom services throughout the week	Link
Masham Group of Parishes	Services via Zoom and recorded for YouTube	Link
Wakefield Episcopal Area
St James' Thornes	Prayers and services as often as they can	Link
St George's Lupset	Prayers and services as often as they can	Link
Benefice of Royston and Felkirk	Sunday Mass 9.15am, Monday Mass 17.30pm, Wednesday Mass 9.30am	Link
Christ Church Lofthouse	Sunday Eucharist, Midday Prayer and Compline	Link
St George's Barnsley	Sunday Service 11am	Link
All Saints Pontefract	Sunday Communion 10.30am, Evensong 6.30pm, Wednesday Communion 10am	Link
St Mary's South Elmsall	Sunday Mass 10.30am, Wednesday Mass 12 noon, Messy Church Sunday 2pm, Holy Week Services	Link
St Giles' Pontefract	Sunday Mass 10am and Wednesday Mass 9.30am	Link
St Peter's Stanley	Sunday Mass 10am, various weekly worships	Link
St Catherine’s, Belle Vue and St Andrew’s Wakefield	Sunday Service 10.30am, Morning and Evening Weekly Prayer	Link
All Saints Darton and St John's Staincross	Sunday Mass 10am	Link
Benefice of West Barnsley	Sunday Eucharist 10.30am	Link
St Cuthbert’s and All Saints’ Ackworth	Sunday Eucharist 10am and Daily Prayer	Link
Christ Church South Ossett	Sunday Service 10am	Link

Richard shares some more top tips below, offering advice with regards to shooting a good video or live stream at your home.

Fountains Church, Bradford have also produced a helpful written guide to live streaming on Facebook, which can be accessed here.

More support and advice with regards to live streaming can be found on the Church of England website. Their digital team have released a number of blogs with helpful information included.

A Church Near You

AChurchNearYou.com is being used to signpost those churches that are live streaming services and events. Churches need to add the 'Livestream' tag to their services and events that will be broadcast. Remember to add this into your churches description, telling people how they can watch your online events. You can add a link to the platform you're using to stream, such as your Facebook Page or YouTube Channel.

Copyright 

When uploading content to platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and a church website, it is important to take copyright rules and laws into consideration. This is particularly applicable when using music in your videos/livestreams and other audio/visual content not created by your church. Full guidance can be found here on the Church of England website.

Can we perform live music during a video or livestream?
A church wishing to sing and play live music on a live or pre-recorded video on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram are able to do so. In order to do this it is recommend that you apply for the CCLI Streaming Licence introduced in mid-March 2020. This permits you to stream or webcast live worship music on social media platforms which are normally intended for personal, domestic use only, including YouTube and Facebook. This licence also covers the right to show song lyrics on screen, to enable viewers to sing along.

Can we embed a livestream on a church website?
If the video is embedded from YouTube, as the host of the video, the platforms licence covers this. However, if the video is hosted on the church website, the church would need to apply for a Limited Online Music Licence (LOML) provided by PRS for Music.

Can we play a recorded song as part of a livestream?
Most backing tracks and recorded songs are copyrighted material. Always be aware of the background music in your live video because social media platforms monitor and flag copyrighted content. You may receive a copyright violation, meaning the video is muted or even banned. Therefore, recorded music cannot be used as part of a video recording or livestream unless you have the permission from the copyright holder.

Some song recordings however, have been made free to download and use without any copyright concerns. For example, the Church of England have made hymns and songs available for use by clergy and church leaders livestreaming Sunday services, recorded by the Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Anthony Gray, an organist in the Diocese of Leeds has recorded organ music for St Margaret Ilkley's online services. There are now also available for any church that wishes to use them and can be downloaded here.

Dial in Services

While a majority of people are able to access church livestreams at the moment, we are aware there is a number for whom this isn't possible. In response some churches have made alternative provisions, such as a dial in conference call, allowing people to use their phone to access meetings on platforms like Zoom. Please find examples below of how some have made this facility possible.

All Saints Ilkley 

We use the website www.whypay.net and pay £8 a month for their pro package. This means up to 50 people can dial in to a conference call service using the same set of numbers every time, and it only costs a standard rate per minute or nothing if people have bundled minutes as part of their landline or mobile contract. 

A typical service operates as follows. At the appointed time people dial-in to the conference call with their arrival being announced by hearing their first name. There is a few moments of general chitchat and then the person leading the service mutes everybody except those who are involved in preaching, reading the Bible or leading the prayers. At the end of the service everybody is a muted to say the grace together and to give their farewell greetings.

The pattern has worked well for us. We have a service of prayer on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 8:30am, and at 9:15 am on Sunday mornings. Typically we have up to 10 participants during the week and up to 20 on a Sunday.

Sutton with Cowling & Lothersdale

We recently started a ‘dial-in’ Sunday service, using telephones only, where those attending the service call a local rate ‘03’ number. For our first service our Vicar, the Revd Helen Collings, led the service from Sutton. Our curate, the Revd Brian Greenfield gave a talk from Glusburn and readings and prayers were led remotely by members of our three parishes from their homes in Cowling, Lothersdale and Sutton. The first service was well received with over 50 people participating.  

Here is a helpful blog from Revd Bryony Taylor, who offers help with setting up phone church using Whypay telephone conferencing.

Video Production

Churches have also been producing videos during this time, covering services, thoughts, reflections and more, and putting them on social media and YouTube. The Diocese of Leeds has produced a guide for churches and individuals looking to get started themselves, which can be found here.