AN EAST Lothian minister has managed to find a solution to having to be in two places at the same time.

The Rev David Scott, minister of the Church of Scotland Parish of Traprain, with churches at Prestonkirk, Stenton and Whittingehame, has spent the summer covering for the Rev Joanne Evans-Boiten of the neighbouring congregations at Whitekirk, Athelstaneford and Tyninghame, who is on study leave.

This meant he had to find a way of preaching at four services every Sunday morning for six weeks!

“When planning for this summer’s services, we found elders and others in our congregations were happy to volunteer to lead most parts of the services but felt writing and delivering the sermon, a talk of 10 to 20 minutes, was too daunting,” said Mr Scott.

“The answer came in conversation with my son, who is a professional photographer and videographer, who offered to film my sermons so they could be played back [via large screen] to the congregations in the churches that I couldn’t be in.

“We decided to adopt a documentary style, filming in different churches with footage from different places. The response has been very good, with some people teasing me that they prefer listening to the digital me to the real one!”

Mr Scott said the scheme was supported by Lothian Presbytery, which will now undertake a full evaluation of the programme.

He added: “Although this was immensely enjoyable, there is also a serious side to the project as we prepare for a Scotland with fewer ministers likely to be asked to serve more communities. We have run this as a pilot to see if it offers one possible way of approaching the challenge we face.”

Mr Scott’s last digital sermon is this Sunday in Prestonkirk and Athelstaneford.