Cornerstone No . 193 , page 16
New Online Congregation Trialled
A former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is aiming to build an entirely new congregation based around an online community .
The Very Rev Albert Bogle has taken up a post looking at building on the success of the Sanctuary First website and app . Sanctuary First was established in 2009 from Bo ’ Ness St Andrew ' s , where Mr Bogle was minister for 34 years . The church has pioneered the use of the internet for reaching out to people , and was the first to make its services available through a live stream for iPhone and iPad users . Mr Bogle , who demitted his charge at St Andrew ' s to take on this new pioneer ministry post through Falkirk Presbytery , said : “ We ’ re looking to move Sanctuary First from its present identity as a devotional website , and see if it could become a congregation of the Church of Scotland in online and offline worshipping . “ I ’ ll be working with present members to help model such a pilot congregation , and through worship , mission and pastoral care research and model how it might look .” Sanctuary First has a team of about 50 people writing on a regular basis , offering daily worship , prayers , readings and videos . The material is available through apps for Apple , Android and Microsoft devices , daily email and at the website www . sanctuaryfirst . org . uk . It currently has about 1700 users . “ It came out of a worshipping congregation and has been developed over a number of years ,” says Mr Bogle . “ Now we think we have got the potential to go further and connect with the wider community of Christian people who do not attend church regularly .” Mr Bogle stepped down from St Andrew ' s at the end of last year , and only took up the new post in April , so is just starting to talk to people about the new venture , and to explore the legal and organisational challenges . “ We want to network with as many people as possible around the church , so we are not trying to work on our own .