A free national telephone line with music, prayers and reflections from the Church of England has been relaunched.
DailyHOPE, a telephone line ministry, has announced that it has resumed its service with immediate effect. The phone line had shut down at the end of January due to lack of funding, but soon after secured a generous donation to get it back up and running again.
Initially established by the Church of England in April 2020, in partnership with Faith in Later Life and Connections at Holy Trinity Church in Claygate, DailyHOPE aimed to support older individuals who couldn't access online worship during coronavrius lockdowns.
In 2023, Faith in Later Life took over the development and ownership of the line.
CEO of Faith in Later Life, Alex Drew, told Premier Christian News: “We've had all sorts of wonderful emails and letters through, from family members of callers, as well as callers themselves saying it's a lifeline to them. I had one dear lady contact me via her daughter to say that she was so sad that it was closing because she uses it every single night to help her to go to sleep. We have a lovely series on there called ‘Sleep Well’”.
The need for such a service is underscored by Age UK research revealing that nearly half of over-65s, approximately 6 million people in the country, are unable or unwilling to use the internet safely, or at all. For many older individuals, DailyHOPE has become a significant spiritual resource.
“I think one of the things that perhaps happened after the pandemic is most of us just carried on with our lives, we went out to work or we went out to engage with our social activities,” Drew said.
“But actually, for many older people, they already hadn't been going out a great deal. And people have mobility issues, some people are living in care, so not everybody is out and about. And of course, during the pandemic, those two years had a significant impact on the confidence and capabilities of many older people. Even some of those who might have been able to come back out and join society in the ways that you and I did actually lost their confidence. Suddenly they didn't want to go on the bus anymore. Or perhaps their mobility had declined because they hadn't been getting out and about moving in the way they previously had done.”
Plans for the phone line include expanding the range of content and content providers to appeal to a broader audience of Christians and older people exploring faith for the first time.
In 2023, data showed DailyHOPE had received 100,000 calls.
