As our world responds to the COVID-19 outbreak by staying home, many churches are scrambling to keep the Body of Christ connected. At Saint James in West St Paul, thanks to some expertise among some of our staff, a passionate commitment to the Gospel, an a deep desire to bring the love of Christ to our entire congregation and beyond, we’ve quickly developed a collection of methods to bring church to the church.

Services

Since we’re not meeting live, there’s no reason to livestream the services, so we record them in advance and release them on our YouTube channel on the day of the service, recording multiple services on the same day but scheduling their releases for the correct Sunday and Wednesday (Lent services). We also embedded the service playlist on the front page of our website for easy access.

We also mail out DVDs of services to shut-ins, cable access channels, and nursing homes, and we’re working on using Dropbox for the cable access channels and nursing homes to avoid contamination.

Bible Classes

Because we have Google’s G Suite (free for nonprofits), we can use Google Meet for Bible classes. The leader speaks on his phone or laptop, and participants can either click a link to join in or call a phone number, thus allowing people to listen and ask questions live. Using a handheld recorder, the leader also records the class for those who listen on the website or subscribe to the podcast.

Youth Group

We’re using a combination of Google Hangouts & Google Meet for youth group. They tend to prefer Hangouts, since they already have it installed on their phones, but Meet is a decent option, too. It’s easy to have discussions, and for our first session, we played a combination of Charades and Pictionary. You can find plenty of word games online, or you can find a shared game like Kahoot. You can also use Google Jamboard for whiteboard games like Hangman.

Sunday School

Our teachers are sending lessons to the students’ families via email: the Bible reference and a summary and discussions questions for families to use with their kids, along with craft and other activity suggestions. They’re also calling each family every week to see how everyone’s handling the situation, reporting to pastors or elders if care is needed.

Committee Meetings

Each of our current groups uses whatever works for them. I’ve used Zoom (which has a free option, but the paid option is currently free during this situation) and Google Hangouts/Meet, but there’s no shortage of options. Workplace from Facebook is also currently free. Again, Google Meet has the phone-in option for offline members. We’re also looking into GoToWebinar for congregational voters’ meetings.

Ministering to Offline Members

I’ve already mentioned some offline strategies, especially conference calling via Meet. We’ve also implemented a call-in option (using our phone system) with a recorded service (like a voicemail message, but only an OGM) so people can call and listen to the most recent service at their convenience.

We also have a group of volunteer “phone angels” who are calling everyone (specifically offline people, but hopefully eventually checking in with everyone), weekly when possible, to see how they’re doing, making sure they can access services and classes, and offering to pray with them.

We also offer a weekly update via our website and share all new content to our Facebook page, along with our emailed and printed (sent with DVDs) Daily Prayers, which includes a Bible reading based on the pericopes and an accompanying prayer.