Dolly Parton says she wants to help people worship Jesus while they're not able to attend church, and she did just that on Easter Sunday.

"Well, happy Easter, everybody! It's a little different this year, huh?" Parton says as she greets viewers in a video of her performing the song "He's Alive," posted to her Twitter account.

Parton says while she knows people usually love getting dressed up for Easter Sunday in nice outfits for going to church, and the kids love their Easter egg hunts, that's not what's important. And, she says, just because people can't actually get into a church building doesn't mean we can't celebrate.

"That doesn't mean we can't worship in the same way that we should. Because we don't have to go to a building, to a church, to worship God. The kingdom of heaven is within. So let's just do that this year."

Parton says the song is a favourite of hers to perform, and she usually sings it with a live choir. She invites viewers to join in as their own choir, this year.

"I'm going to simplify it a little bit. It's a song from the disciple Peter's point of view," she says. "I think you'll get a blessing out of this, and I know I'm going to get a blessing out of singing it."