How comfortable would you be coming to in-person worship?
- Very comfortable. (33%)
- Fairly comfortable. (34%)
- Not at all comfortable. (33%)
Comments:
“Covid isn’t real and God will protect us from it.”
“If we don’t meet in person next week I’m finding another church that really believes in God.”
“If we meet in person within the next year I’m finding another church that values my health and safety.”
“I guess it just all kind of depends on stuff.”
“I haven’t left my house for five months and have enough supplies stockpiled for the next five. See you in 2021. Maybe.”
“Please see the attached ten page document outlining the conditions under which I would consider meeting in person for worship again.”
If we were to have gatherings in the church building, what precautions would you like us to observe. Check all that apply.
- All people required to wear a mask. (50%)
- No congregational singing. (50%)
- No passing of the peace. (90%)
- Hand sanitizer available. (98%)
- Chairs and hymnals sanitized each week. (50%)
- Reduced capacity with physically distant seating. (50%)
- Other:________________
“Face shields.”
“Take everyone’s temperature before they can come in.”
“I’m not coming to church if I have wear a mask.”
“There’s no point in worship if we can’t sing.”
“I’ve got some extra hand sanitizer I can bring if you need it.”
If we continue online worship for a significant period of time, what format do you prefer?
- Facebook livestream (20%)
- YouTube livestream (20%)
- Pre-recorded in sanctuary (20%)
- Produced worship video (20%)
- Zoom worship (20%)
Comments:
“I refuse to get on Facebook.”
“I hate YouTube.”
“Maybe we can do one of those cool virtual choirs and include some movie clips with the sermon and have nice graphics of our announcements running at the beginning of worship and take some kind of special worship element around to everyone’s house early each Sunday morning.”
“I love seeing the pastor preach from her home in her comfy clothes.”
“The pastor should always preach from the pulpit. I don’t care if there is a pandemic.”
“What’s our Zoom password again?”
Dear Leadership Team:
I am sending the results of our recent congregational survey. We sent it out in hopes of gaining some clarity about how to proceed with church activities during this time.
I give up.
Sincerely,
Your Pastor
Rev. Joanna Harader serves as pastor of Peace Mennonite Church in Lawrence, KS. Her blog is Spacious Faith.
RevGalBlogPals encourages you to share our blog posts via email or social media. We do not grant permission to cut-and-paste prayers and articles without a link back. For permission to use material in paper publications, please email revgalblogpals at gmail dot com.
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This is perfect.
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Don’t know if RevGalBlogPals permits a link to a video, but we made this video last week in response to…oh well, the dead silence I got from colleagues when I told them our church reopened three months ago, and things are going well. It details what we are doing in the worship service to keep everyone safe, as well as how we are preparing communion. Last week we had 36 attending service in a sanctuary that seats 350. Masks, social distancing, not a problem.
We continue to video the scriptures, sermon, special music, and communion liturgy for those who prefer to watch from home. The videos are on Vimeo, which seems a little less fussy than YouTube about video length, use of music (apparently YouTube bots will take you down for music in the public domain, even!), etc.
Being Faithful, Staying Safe: How We Worship Now at the First Presbyterian Church of New Orleans
Video link:
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Thanks for this Kathy! I’ll share it with my leadership team.
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