Winter Worship Online
Summary of Changes for Winter Worship
Congregants will be encouraged to stay home starting November 29th
Worship will stream live at 10am from the sanctuary
Sunday School will be conducted via Zoom at 9:30am
Staff and volunteers will not be required to participate for in-person worship
Small group and mission opportunities will continue, with as much as reasonably possible taking place online and without physical gatherings
The sanctuary will be open during worship hours, but there will be no greeters, ushers or Sunday School. The public face of our Sunday worship experience will be for online worship only
Christmas Eve will likely have one online family service at 3pm and one outdoor candlelight service at 9pm
With Covid-19 cases surpassing the highest numbers the country has seen so far, the reopening team met to discuss possible responses to this for Grace United Methodist Church. The general options were to change nothing, to increase restrictions and last, to close the church building and move to online only worship. We reviewed the current data for the eight towns with the highest number of members in our church (not surprisingly these are also the closest eight towns to Grace). We found that cases are exponentially increasing in all eight towns, totaling over 1,000 active cases and that some of these towns are the highest case counts in Bergen and Passaic County. The spread of this virus is very near to our church, and projections show an additional 200,000-400,000 cases in our country every day through February. We also reviewed the Bishop’s statement that reiterated the Governor’s order to reduce indoor gatherings to 10 people and, though religious services are exempt from this order, encouraged our United Methodist Churches to review building usage plans. He also thanked those churches that have returned to online worship only.
With all that in mind, we discussed what direction made the most sense for our church. Of course, at the fore of our minds is the safety of our congregation, but we also recognize the burden the pandemic has placed on volunteers as well as the spiritual toll it is taking on our congregation. To address the safety of our congregation, we recommend that people in our church stay home on Sunday morning starting November 29th. Our Sunday morning worship can be viewed from home for the vast majority of our congregation and this is the safest way for all of us to navigate the danger the next few months pose to our people. We propose Sunday School also moves to online only November 29th, using Zoom for interactive instruction at 930am.
We also know that the previous process for individuals to prerecord portions of the service and have one or two people edit it together is very labor intensive, requiring literal days of extra work. A much easier process is to have those leading worship gathered together in the sanctuary and to stream the service live. We propose that this group of worship leaders continues to gather Sunday morning, while continuing previously established protocols of wearing masks and practicing social distancing. The service, then, can be broadcast live to the church community at 10am. We recognize that some worship leader staff and volunteers may not be comfortable with this, and that this is perfectly acceptable considering the risk from the pandemic. We expect anyone on the team unwilling to gather in the sanctuary for the broadcast to let the Pastor know for planning purposes. The pastor has committed to leading worship in the sanctuary, but there will be no adverse effects on employees or volunteers unwilling to participate during the pandemic.
Concerning the spirits of those in our church, we will continue to encourage folks to worship online, gather in small groups and participate in missional opportunities. Our church-wide study in Advent is a fantastic opportunity for our congregation (and beyond) to find spiritual meaning and purpose with a new community amidst the pandemic. Our missions team continues their food drive and the stocking collection with winter hats and gloves. For those few who still desire in-person worship despite the increased risk, the doors will be open during the live broadcast, but there will be no greeters, ushers or Sunday School. We strongly discourage our congregation from attending in-person Sunday morning worship, and the public face of our church will be that of an online worshiping community only.
For those that are thinking ahead to Christmas Eve, our thinking at this point is to move the 3pm family service to online only, and to move the 9pm candlelight service outdoors. People will be able to attend the service outside in a socially distanced manner, or watch by remaining within their vehicles and listening to the service via radio. There are a number of details to be worked out for Christmas Eve, but this represents our general thinking at this time.
These are challenging times, but we know our church will remain faithful to the larger mission of making disciples of Christ for the transformation of the world and to fulfilling our vision which is to be an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ. We encourage you to pray for our church and our leaders, but especially for those who are suffering from the pandemic and its wide-ranging effects. Despite all that is happening, “we have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul…(Hebrews 6:19)” and that hope is Jesus Christ, so keep the faith and the church of Grace will be here for you, whatever may come. God bless!