A priest who hoped to deliver mass via Twitter has had his plans scuppered by church bosses.

Reverend Tim Ross had planned to broadcast a communion service using the internet but has had to abandon his plans under pressure from British Methodist Church authorities.

Rev Ross, who lives in Broadwater, Worthing, and is a member of the congregation of Offington Park Methodist Church in South Farm Road in the town, had set up his own Twitter Communion website to broadcast the service.

His plan was to send out prayers during the service in messages of 140 characters or less and then have his world-wide congregation read out loud the tweet before replying, “Amen”.

More than 1,800 people around the world read Rev Ross's comments on Twitter and he had hoped using the technology could allow more people to receive communion.

The Methodist Conference, the governing body for the church, said "virtual" services raised "difficult problems" for church leaders.