Digital church case study: St. Peter's, Château-d'Oex

19/12/2024

How are churches using digital to engage with their communities? We spoke to St. Peter's, Château-d'Oex about their story, what they did last Advent and Christmas, and what they're learning.

Could you tell us a bit about your context?  

St. Peter's is an Anglican church in Château-d'Oex, Switzerland. We serve the Pays d'Enhaut valley which has about 7,000 residents, most of whom are French speaking. Built in 1899, to serve the resident and visiting Anglophone community, we're a small church that has been learning how to use digital tools. Like many churches, we began exploring digital ministry during the pandemic, and we've continued to develop our approach.  

photos of St. Peter's Anglican church in Château-d'Oex, Switzerland

 

How do digital tools help you at the moment? 

Several years ago, our congregation had dwindled to a handful of elderly members, and there was real concern about the church's future. The Covid pandemic prompted us to implement hybrid services, which we've continued to develop. Through experimentation, we've established a technical setup that works for our context: 

  • A sound system that provides excellent audio for both in-person and online participants

  • Screens at the front of church to display service content

  • ProPresenter software for managing slides and media – this has boosted our reach and productivity

  • Remote controlled cameras positioned in the church to capture the service sensitively

  • Equipment that allows us to incorporate both live and recorded music 

Our current Sunday attendance averages 40-50 people in church with an additional 20-30 participating via Zoom or YouTube. As a general rule, members of the congregation that know each other like to join via Zoom rather than YouTube. In this way they can not only follow the service but also stay behind at the end and join breakout rooms for further fellowship.  

Our Chaplain, Rev Mark Fletcher, leads the Sunday service. We begin each service with a split-screen display showing both our physical congregation and the Zoom gallery of online participants. Mark always takes a moment to welcome those joining online, helping to create a sense of unified worship despite the physical distance. This simple practice has become an important part of our service, reminding everyone that we are one community whether present in person or joining remotely. 

the congregation inside of st peter's church, which combines traditional pews with digital screens at the front

We follow a structured pre- and post-production schedule: the YouTube livestream remains available for replay, and we upload the sermon separately. We use Claude 3.5 Sonnet to generate a one-paragraph summary of each sermon for the video description, and we create short highlights from the sermon to post throughout the week. 

Since many of our congregation are secondary residents, this hybrid approach allows them to remain connected when they're away. Our YouTube channel has now grown to over 800 subscribers. We also maintain a Facebook presence and run targeted paid advertising during the Christmas period to reach English-speaking visitors. 

Our weekly activities have evolved through experience and feedback from our congregation: 

  1. Sending newsletters through Mailchimp to keep everyone informed about upcoming services and events

  2. Preparing service slides that work well for both in-person and online viewing

  3. Setting up song lyrics in formats that encourage participation

  4. Streaming Sunday services on YouTube and Zoom, with time beforehand for testing connections

  5. Uploading the sermon separately for those who wish to revisit it or share it with others

  6. Creating short highlight videos of the sermon

  7. Sharing hymns and worship songs throughout the week to maintain connection

In the future we're planning to expand our content to include interviews with congregants and perhaps a "behind-the-scenes" look at our technical setup. 

screenshot of st peters church YouTube homepage

Image: St Peter’s Christmas carol music and lyric videos uploaded to YouTube 

What digital strategies helped engage your congregation and community last Christmas?

Facebook advertising was very helpful last year in attracting visitors to our carol services in Gstaad and Château-d'Oex. In the run-up to Christmas, we also uploaded many Christmas songs and hymns on YouTube, and these received considerable interest. 

Getting new followers and subscribers on social media takes commitment and time. We certainly don't get thousands of views, but we believe the effort justifies the results. Growth in the church seems to be slow but steady. In addition, we seem to be attracting more young people. Like many churches, our congregants are split over whether they prefer traditional or contemporary songs. Since we only have one service in the week, we try to include two of each in each service. 

the inside of the church, including a christmas tree and stained glass windows, and computers used to run hybrid services

 

We've found that our hybrid digital strategy helps us serve both our local and dispersed community effectively. Our experience might be relevant to other Anglican churches facing similar demographic challenges or serving communities with many part-time residents. However, it does require dedication, consistency, and technical expertise. 

You can find examples of our work on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@stpeters-ch. If you'd like to share your experiences or learn more about ours, we'd welcome the conversation.  

Many thanks to Guy Girardet at St. Peter's for sharing with us – you can contact Guy for more information at [email protected] . Hopefully these examples and reflections give you some inspiration for what your church could do digitally this Christmas and beyond!