How To Help Your Church Congregation During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The global spread of Coronavirus has ignited a wave of emotions along with it. People are grieving over financial instability, plans canceled, and for many, lost loved ones. For churchgoers, their sacred sanctuary is now off-limits. Across all religions, people need to hold tight to their faith, hope, and spirituality.
In uncertain times, people turn to their church community for worship and communal gathering. Unfortunately, this pandemic is forcing us all to stay put. Not only are public outings and worship risky, but they are now illegal. How can your church bring your valued community together during this painful time?
Right now, your congregation needs spiritual and communal nourishment. Yes, the physical doors of the church are closed, but the spirit is very much alive.
It’s time to amass your congregation and offer your church members the help they need while sheltered at home. Above all, they need your help keeping the faith. Here are tips for how to help your church congregation during Coronavirus.
Be Of Service Any Way You Can
Leave it to a pandemic to demonstrate the virtue of technology. Nothing can replace the embrace of a loved one, but at least we can still communicate via FaceTime, Skype, Zoom, or Slack. It’s never been easier to stay connected, despite our inability to connect in person.
Church congregations around the world aren’t letting quarantine keep them from worshiping with their church families. Strengthen the bond with your congregation by moving all services online. And that’s not the only strategy to help your church during Coronavirus. Below, we’ll dive into ways your church can respond and be of service to your community.
Live Stream Church Services
The church is a sacred house of worship where communities regularly gather to worship, hear sermons, and strengthen their religious bond. Yet across the globe, the pews and seats are now empty. That’s not going to stop churches from providing access to community worship.
Around the world, churches are live streaming their services for their congregation. But their reach is now broader thanks to virtual broadcasting.
As church leaders pivot and find new ways to reach their congregation, they are gaining new followers. With online-only services, pastors and speakers access an amplified platform that’s drawing in the masses.
Since live-streaming services, famous church leader, Joel Osteen, broke records with enhanced viewership reaching up to 4.51 million — a 2.5 million increase from typical attendance.
Joel Osteen and his wife, Victoria Osteen at the Yankee Stadium in New York. Image credits: Joel Osteen Ministries
This video demonstrates the power of live-streaming. The unavailability of your house of worship has led to an abundance of availability online. And rightfully so, we’re all trying to keep the faith as we grapple with present circumstances.
The primary goal isn’t to amass mega-viewership, but to help as many people as possible. When people don’t know where to turn to, they often find shelter in religion. That’s why it’s crucial to stream live services online, and there are several ways to do it.
Live-stream weekly broadcasts of your church services via Zoom or Facebook Live.
Use the “Livestream” tag to stream your service on AChurchNearYou.com.
Post each service to Youtube, Facebook, and your website for viewers who missed the live stream to watch.
Use Mobile Apps For Prayer and Communication
Community prayer is an important lifeline for church members. Fortunately, community prayer remains accessible with free mobile apps like Time to Pray. Schedule daily or weekly prayers with accompanying readings or messages within the app.
Right now is a great time to create a daily series, including uplifting scriptures or inspiring readings. And that’s not the only way to communicate with church members.
Create chat rooms in Google Hangouts to boost morale, promote community engagement, and discuss present topics. Here are some icebreakers to ask church members and help get the conversation going:
“What is your favorite scripture, and how has it helped you?”
“What would you like to learn more about?” Examples include religious education or how to help the community.
“Does anyone have prayer requests?”
Also, keep in mind that members of your congregation may be suffering from chronic anxiety, depression, isolation, loneliness, and emotional turmoil. Grief is a common feeling as numbers continue to rise, and hopelessness sets in. Confinement doesn’t help, but you can.
Help Combat The Loneliness
Quarantine, shelter in place, stay at home; the verbiage might change, but the reality is the same: we’re all stuck inside. Many people are alone during this difficult time. Within the walls of confinement anxiety and restlessness breed. When people feel lost, they lean on their faith to endure and overcome hardships.
As church leaders, you have the power to alleviate this emotional strain by using technology to help those in need.
More than anything, many crave human contact to know that they are not alone. With video chats, you can reach people face to face and provide a safe space for them to share their feelings.
Here are some ideas to help you improve your availability to your church members:
Create a help hotline or online chat on an app like Facebook Messenger, where volunteers are on standby to chat with those in need.
Add a free calendar like Calendly to your website where people can schedule one on one video chats with pastors or church leaders.
Send out text messages to inform everyone of their options for finding help. Some members of your congregation might not be up to speed on tech software, but most of them have a phone.
Create a Facebook Group for church members to share their feelings, reach out to one another, and build community.
Share uplifting visuals of scripture, prayers, or quotes that inspire others on social media or in your group chats. We all need a little pick-me-up, and happy imagery always helps.
Call Your Church Members (Yes, On The Phone)
Even with technology at your fingertips, making personal calls to church members shows them that you are all in this together. Additionally, some people aren’t as up-to-speed with technology, which means you can better reach them by phone or text.
Sure, it might take hours, but you can divide the call list and recruit volunteers to help you. Don’t be surprised if you receive an overwhelming volume of volunteers. People feel helpless right now, and a solution to that is to help others.
Have your volunteer team call every church member and ask them how they are doing. Ask them if they need help or if they’d like you to pray on the phone with them. A phone call might not have seemed significant three weeks ago, but right now? It could literally save lives, especially if you have elderly church members who need help getting supplies.
And on that subject, don’t forget about your vulnerable community members.
Provide Help To Your Vulnerable Members
Every church community includes all walks of life — young, old, healthy, ill, rich, poor. Recruit young, healthy church members to volunteer to get supplies for the elderly, those with special needs, or medically ill in your community. There’s a high likelihood that some of these members don’t have family nearby to help them, but they should be able to rely on their church family.
Equip them with the government health guidelines for social distancing and hygiene to ensure that safety is priority #1.
You can also expand your help beyond your church community. Ask church members to post signs in their neighborhoods or apartment buildings offering to help buy supplies, offer prayer, or a friendly call to check in with one another.
Encourage Small Group Ministry
Small groups are essential micro-communities within your broader church community. For many, weekly small groups are their primary social outlet and only opportunity to bond with fellow members. Typically, small groups occur at church or one of the member’s homes. Of course, gatherings are prohibited, but that doesn’t mean small groups have to stop.
It’s especially important right now for people to have a social outlet. Encourage small group ministry with free apps like Zoom. Small group members can attend their weekly meetings together by attending a virtual group meeting. During these intimate meetings, they can discuss their personal lives or struggles, and have group prayer or bible study.
When members attend their weekly meetings, they’ll feel a sense of camaraderie, community, and normalcy during this tumultuous time.
Plan Ahead For Virtual Events and Services
As much as we’d like to think this is short-term, none of us can predict how long this will last. Baptisms, weddings, even public funerals have been postponed indefinitely. The only concrete factor in all of this is that your church needs you now more than ever.
Whether it’s establishing a new online schedule of your services or improving your mental health outreach, your congregation is looking to you for guidance.
As we all attempt to take things day-by-day, churches need to plan ahead and anticipate that this is the new normal for an unspecified amount of time. With upcoming holidays like Easter and Mother’s Day, plan to host virtual events that bring your congregation together.
Planning is more accessible thanks to the availability of technology, apps, and compassionate volunteers. There’s no denying that times are tough. If there’s one thing this crisis has shown us, it’s that a global pandemic can’t hinder faith and compassion.
