HOW TO WORSHIP DURING A PANDEMIC
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How are West Linn Lutherans using Technology to Stay in Touch With Their Congregation?
Our global pandemic has caused us all to turn to technology to help us do remotely what we used to do in-person. Technology can be particularly challenging to some people. To connect, you need a computer (desktop or laptop), or a tablet device (iPad, Samsung Galaxy, Amazon Fire), or a smart TV, or even just a smartphone. If you have no device like any of these, please contact us, as we may be able to help you find an affordable device. Our contact information can be found at the end of this handout. If you DO have one of these devices, but have never tried Zoom, we will connect you with folks who can help you get started… often with only a phone call! Once you have used Zoom once or twice, you will quickly discover how easy it is to stay connected! WORSHIP Since the beginning of Covid-19 Social Distancing, WLLC has not missed a beat providing worship opportunities for our members. In fact, we have people worshiping with us now who live nowhere near West Linn! Because we want to stay connected with these more distant friends, we are already talking about how we can continue an on-line worshiping experience even after it becomes safe again for us to worship in our Sanctuary. But how do our worship leaders pull it off? The four or five or so worship leaders connect using Zoom, a free video conferencing application. Zoom allows several people, in various locations, to communicate with one another, show video recordings, and present themselves as worship leaders to the congregation members who are watching. The on-screen layout is carefully managed by Elizabeth Herzfeldt-Kamprath, who sends the video to YouTube Studio, where it is live-streamed out to the internet. For our worshipping members, it’s easy: Just go to the home page of our church website and find all you need! Click on the Live Streaming button (on the home page) to connect with our YouTube channel, and join our services. Also on our home page you will see links to the Sunday Bulletin, and a link labeled, Access all things worship HERE, which will bring you to a page that has yet another link to the online worship service, and also a link to our Zoom Coffee Hour. Grab a cup of coffee and join our virtual Coffee Hour to socialize with and catch up with the friends you used to visit between services in our Fellowship Hall! If you are interested in being one of our worship leaders, we would love to have you! Again, if you’ve never used Zoom, we have a team of people ready to help you get connected! FAITH FORMATION Our pastors have already been offering some Bible studies via the Zoom platform, and our Faith Formation Team will be gathering (on Zoom!) to put together some interesting topics and studies for you as we go boldly forward! MEETINGS Most of our church committees are continuing to meet! Because we cannot physically gather, we are using… (you guessed it…) Zoom! If you would like to serve on any of our committees, we would love to have you! MUSIC The same people you have previously seen playing instruments and singing at the front of our Sanctuary have now become a team of sound and recording engineers, audio mixers, and video editors, to keep the spirit of music running through our virtual services! Through technology, our choir can sing together (in harmony!), while never even being in the same room with one another. If you feel the beat in your heart, and want to join in the singing or playing… or even help with the behind-the-scenes production, just let us know! Perhaps you’ve never done anything like this before, but let me assure you that before the pandemic, most of us had never done anything like this before! GIVING Well before the pandemic got started, our WLLC began accepting offerings electronically. Many began using this service, but for others, it still just felt good dropping our offering into the offering plate. Perhaps you will take another look at the on-line giving options, now that we are mostly hunkered down at home. OK… Help Me Connect! There are many people who are willing and able to help you with any of the technologies described in this handout. But rather than try to list them all here, let me list just Pastor Tim and myself. If either of us cannot directly help you, we will certainly connect you with the right person to help you out! Give us a call, text or email. We want you to connect!!!! Gary Eppelsheimer 503-816-5472 (voice, text, or leave voicemail) garyepp@mac.com Pastor Tim Herzfeldt-Kamprath 503-882-3039 (leave voicemail) pastortim@wllc.org Participation In Service Maybe you would like to participate in the service itself by reading, singing, or the many other ways to be involved. If so, please feel out our survey HERE to let us know and we will be in touch to involve you! |
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