Around a hundred people took part in the real mass in a Protestant church in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony, but a further 1,500, who obtained accreditation via the church's internet site, participated in the service via mobile phone text messages, the organisers said. Another 800 followed events by web-cam via their computer screens. The organisers sent their followers five mobile phone text messages at seven-minute intervals, with extracts from the sermons, prayers and Bible passages read out in the church as well as part of the Lord's Prayer. Prayers sent in beforehand by e-mail were also read out in church.
Text messages are part of young people's daily lives.
Heinze acknowledged however that text messaging had its limitations. All rights reserved.