Church services from Heiligenstadt are spread around the world
And it is: Every Sunday, there is now an online gallery from Eichsfeld. And every week, according to the municipality, new viewers are added. Even Canada is looking to Heiligenstadt: Mechthild Morin from Montreal came over the live broadcast by accident, the German immigrant has been watching every Sunday since then. There are 300 to 500 serums per week; A total of 130,000 accesses were counted. On average, each of these “results” was watched for a quarter of an hour.
Reverend Konen misses people. This is why there is such a big bind – stronger than usual, says Konin. Online offerings like streaming services are important. The church still has some catching up to do. However, they cannot exchange service in person.
The IT community team was surprised by the success
The credit for the fact that no one has to go without a sermon from Heiligenstadt on Sunday is mainly due to the IT team about Christian Simon based in Heiligenstadt. The success story began in mid-March 2020. At that time, he created his first online church service with Erik Heisman, Marco Bachmann and Matthias Niels. “We are amazed that so many people are following it,” Simon says. All over Germany, the world is watching, too. Looking back, Christian Simon says, “The original idea was to give congregants access to church services.” Such a society, as it exists now, accumulates over time.
Several different cameras are available
Simon explains that it’s not technically complicated. Laptop, webcam, and a little bit of church internet – it started about a year ago. He says, “The network cable is directly on the altar – help us.” There are now three cameras in the gallery and in the podium. The different camera positions are never cumbersome when sending to the living room. Gradually, more and more influences were added: it provided steady shots of church figures, blessings from the steeple, brass music from the churchyard and well-trained choral music. Simon confirms: “It’s not the stubborn Sunday service like every week.”
Online church services from Heiligenstadt will continue in 2021 – the plan is for Palm Sunday and Easter.
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