Texting is divine says mobile-mad minister

The Rev Gareth Saunders, who serves two parishes in Edinburgh, was converted to the question-and-answer service after it correctly predicted the identity of a new bishop.

The 33-year-old cleric now makes many of his church decisions based on the Any Question Answered (AQA) recommendations. The service, launched almost a year ago, is used by mobile phone owners across the UK and has already answered more than 200,000 questions.

Mr Saunders, who serves St Salvador’s in Stenhouse and The Church of the Good Shepherd, Murrayfield, said the service helped him prepare his sermons.

"It‘s an alternative form of divine inspiration," he said. "Often when I’m trying to find factual information to use in my sermons, I will text AQA to ask them the answer.

"My knowledge of where things are in the Bible isn’t totally spot on so I’ll often ask AQA where the passage is located. So far, it has always comes back with the right answer."

AQA marketing director Steve Bradley said the service was "like Google on a mobile".