Churches, like many other community organizations, are still feeling the after-effects of COVID, including how many of their parishners are no longer attending in-church services, and are opting instead to participate in their services using various virtual broadcasting solutions.
For most churches that are turning to these virtual services, they are doing so because:

1. They want to increase their outreach.
2. They want to make their services available to sick and homebound parishioners.
3. It is a very convenient way for parishioners to listen/watch their services, and
4. It enables them to connect with members of the community that have moved away.

According to PEW Research :
About a quarter of U.S. adults regularly watch religious services online or on TV, and most of them are highly satisfied with the experience.PEW Research conducted this survey of more than 11,000 U.S. adults in November 2022, well after the height of the coronavirus pandemic but before the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared an end to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Broadly speaking, the survey found that most Americans who watched/listened to religious services on screens are happywith them. Two-thirds of U.S. adults who regularly stream religious services online or watch them on TV say they are either “extremely satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the services they see.

Similar shares express satisfaction with the sermons they hear during virtual services. In addition, a little more than half say they are highly satisfied with the music at worship services they join online or watch on TV.

Overview of the Opportunity

The Wallaceburg Christian Reform Church has 174 members and on average 100 attend their Sunday services.
They were looking for a better solution for their Sunday preaching that would allow congregation members who could not attend in person to listen to the sermon over the phone from home. The service would enable up to 100 parishioners to listen and participate in a sermon.
Their current telecommunications provider only offered them a 30-minute window for listeners to call in. Canquest’s solution has an Infinite timeline/window for listeners to call in.

Canquest’s Solution

Working with our sales and technical team, we upgraded and configured a managed internet and Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (“VOIP”) solution that not only met their requirements and will save them $1,300 a year compared to their older, unmanaged solution. Digital solutions provide long term sustainability enabling the Church to expand its virtual ministry outreach and keeping people connected to their faith community.

As per Nick Dykema:
“Canquest is a local service provider who understood our needs and quickly put together a solution that met both our technical requirements and is saving us over $100 a month.
In addition, their technician identified a dead zone in the Church that our previous WI-FI did not cover. The technician provided a new Wi-Fi solution that covered the whole area of the Church facility without having for us to spend extra money on extenders. We are very happy for this”.