LONDON--The Church of England's first virtual parish now has a pastor. According to BBC News, Alyson Leslie, a lay pastor, will run i-Church. The Web site will host a worldwide congregation for prayer, chats, Web cast services and e-mail fellowship.
The church will be a fully recognized Anglican church as part of the Diocese of Oxford, which is funding the $26,500-a-year project.
The church will be officially launched in July. But according to Leslie, more than 700 people have already joined i-Church.
"They're a wide range of people. Some are working abroad, some are in countries where they find it difficult to express a Christian faith openly, and some are in residential care and can't get about. Some are disaffected by the church and want to find new ways to belong," she said. "My experience of online communities is that they can be loving and generous and supportive."
The i-Church idea began in response to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams' call for a "mission-shaped" church.
The Rev. Richard Thomas, spokesman for the Diocese of Oxford, said he hoped it would appeal to people who preferred modern ways of doing things, such as dealing directly with organizations over the Web.
Other online churches, such as the recently launched, Church of Fools, a Methodist Church, reportedly seek to fill the same void.
