With the rise of COVID-19 cases in Australia, Christmas wasn’t the same in 2020. Amid the cancellation of many events, Wahroonga Adventist Church partnered with Sydney Adventist Hospital and Hope Channel to make the traditional experience of Christmas carols a possibility, not only for local residents, but for people all around the world.
Wahroonga’s annual “SING NOEL” carols program and Sydney Adventist Hospital’s annual San Carols program were combined into one event and streamed on Youtube, Facebook and Hope Channel on December 12 and 13.
“From having 1000 people in the church, four walls and a roof, we move to the digital world, and suddenly we’ve got 100,000 people that we’ve been able to share the story of Jesus with,” said Wayne Boehm, director of Hope Channel South Pacific.
During the program that was viewed by people from 45 countries, the book Advent, by Nathan Brown, was offered as a gift.
According to Pastor Boehm, the purpose of the online event was to connect with people in the digital space. “If you don’t put an offer on the program, they watch it and then move on. Whereas this offer allowed us to touch base personally with people”, he explained.
Almost 200 viewers requested the book. “This enables either the local church or us to follow up with phone calls, visits with other materials and invitations to programs run in local churches. So all these people are followed up locally, not just watching an online program,” Pastor Boehm concluded.
