We faced a dilemma in March. Because of COVID-19, we could no longer meet in person. What should we do?
One option: We could prerecord a weekly service and broadcast it each Sunday for people to watch. A lot of churches have chosen this option, and it’s a good one. It’s easy for people to access, allows for higher production value, and can use well-designed platforms for this kind of thing. Nothing wrong with choosing this option!
But we chose a different way.
We took a look at our values. Our first value says, “Relational — We are all about relationships with people and with God.” And this began to shape our thinking.
We looked for a way to maintain relational connections in our weekly gatherings online, to allow people to participate and ask questions, and to give people opportunities to see each other and chat if they wished. We decided to go with Zoom.
I want to be clear: there’s nothing wrong with churches that made a different choice! I also want to acknowledge that we made some trade-offs. Our services aren’t as highly produced as we might like. It’s hard to look that slick on a Zoom call! We don’t have the option to rewind and re-record if something goes wrong. And it’s harder for people to tune in anonymously to check out our services. And we’ve also read about how some people can crash a Zoom call and make trouble.
But we love that we’re leaning into relationships. It’s worth the cost. We’ll keep evaluating, but for now we’re going to double down on relationships and look for more ways for people to connect before, during, and after our Sunday services.
We want to invite you to join us. If you’re nervous about joining a Zoom call, you can turn off your camera, and you can choose the name that shows up on the screen. We try our best not to embarrass anyone. Feel free to lurk until you feel more comfortable.
Our mission is to invite people into community so that we can introduce them to the beauty of relationship with Jesus. Even in these strange days when we can’t meet, we want to continue to invite you into community and relationship to the extent you feel comfortable.
So join us. We meet every Sunday at 4 p.m., although you can come on up to 15 minutes early if you’d like to chat. We welcome everyone regardless of where they are in their spiritual journey, and that includes you.
Find out more about joining us here. We hope to see you soon.
