We recently asked church members how their congregations were responding to the current events. You can see their responses below. If you have something you’d like to share with us, please click/tap here to email us your ideas.
Things that we are doing that are working
- Livestream to Facebook, YouTube,…etc services with a skeleton crew or pre-recorded.
- Use Zoom for services so members can at least see one another while participating from home.
- Distribute communion supplies.
- Every family in the congregation receives at least one call a week. Elderly and high-risk individuals receive multiple calls each week.
- Send cards and letters. Get the whole congregation involved.
- Elders and Deacons break up the congregation into groups and divide it amongst them. Each Elder and Deacon is responsible for contacting each member of their group each week by phone. Groups rotate between the Elders and Deacons.
- Building sign or banner advertising worship times and URLs for live streams.
- Multiple online Bible classes for all ages live-streamed daily or through Zoom
- Mail out Bible study materials to all ages.
- Hold Zoom Bible classes for teens and younger ages.
- Parking lot services where members remain in automobiles.
- Online giving and/or dedicated drive-thru lockbox.
- Use PTP 365 for services.
- Advertise to the community all of the new access to content via live streams.
- Congregational group emails of prayer lists.
- Distribute pre-recorded DVDs to members without connectivity
- Elderly or hearing-impaired use “In Search of the Lord’s Way” because it is closed captioned.
- Visiting shut-ins, leaving a package on the porch, calling them, having them step out on the porch, at a safe distance letting them know they are loved and missed.
- Sun AM worship taped off every other row, usher takes the plates down each row instead of passing it along, bread is placed in a communion cup so they are separate like the juice, cups are not put back in the tray. Individual Lord’s supper also available for those at home or just want them at the building service.
- Deacons also are used as needed for any highly specialized needs of the members such as: delivering Lord’s Supper, food, collecting cash offerings, etc, that any member might need.
- Reading Bible stories to kids on video that is uploaded to YouTube.
- On Saturday, communion supplies, bulletins, any necessary information may be picked up at the building, as well as leaving our contribution.
Areas we are struggling with no solution yet.
- Trying to stay in touch with one another on a personal level.
- How to keep in touch with older members without access to the internet.
- What to do for children’s Bible classes?
- Ideas for serving our surrounding community?
How to preemptively mitigate the risk of “home church” or “web church” becoming the acceptable norm after this crisis is over.
Where we need assistance
- Many smaller congregations need help with technology or wish to share in worship with close by congregations that do have the technology.
