Remote worship and meetings

 

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Find online worship services from churches in the New England Conference

Find online gathering opportunities from Rethink Church

Open the Doors, but Don't Pull the Plug from New England Conference UMC on Vimeo.


Open the Doors, but Don't Pull the Plug - Watch a recording of our June 29, 2020 webinar on continuing online worship even after you return to worshipping in person. 

June 30, 2020 - ResourceUMC.org has created a new Digital Ministry page

Worship resources

Communion

See Bishop Devadhar's May 4, 2020 message on allowing virtual Communion

Love feast liturgy 

Dr. Marcia McFee has written a liturgy titled “Comfort Food” that offers a way for people to break bread together in a ritual way while we are not able to gather.

A Liturgy for When We Cannot Meet from the Order of Saint Luke

Music and Worship Resources offered by NEAC members

  • The Revs. Yohan Go and Juhee Lee of Zion Korean UMC in Rhode Island worked with musicians to record 47 songs and make them available on Google Drive 
  • Mosaic Chapel in Roslindale, MA, offers music videos on their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChOP-2u5mMZy0_rSinjFIHA/videos
  • soulthreads.org  offers music videos under the CONGREGATIONAL SONG tab. Created by Nan AK Gibbons, Director of Children's, Youth and Family Ministries at Wesley UMC in Worcester, MA.
  • The Spirit Presence website (https://spirit-presence.com) includes worship resources; it is a personal project of Maylis de la Fe-Rodriguez of Aldersgate UMC in Chelmsford, MA.

General advice

See tips from Congregational Development Director Rick McKinley (and more)

Standing in the pulpit:10 tips for online worship leaders from resourceUMC.org

More than a viewer: 10 tips for engaging with online worship

13 tips for improving your Facebook Live broadcasts

A video with ideas from Marcia McFee, our Annual Conference worship leader

Suggestions for virtual worship from Sojourners Ministries

The Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts has launched a crowdsourced Pandemic Response Worship Resourcing page: https://www.umfellowship.org/pandemic 

The UM Disability blog offers way to include those who are deaf or hard of hearing in online worship. Learn more

Guidance for counting online worshipers for statistical reports

Technical resources

Platforms

Facebook Live

Zoom (see below)

YouTube

Some other options

  • Contact local radio stations to explore remote feeds or taped worship.
  • Contact the local Cable TV network about broadcasting videotape of worship services, church messages, or other events.
  • Tape worship message and post on the church website and inform members and the media of that option.
  • Ask your computer internet service provider about podcasts and live internet feeds of worship, Sunday school classes, or other events. While the initial investment may be costly, this could open up a whole new ministry for those unable to attend - at a very reasonable continuing cost.

Tech help

Live streaming primer video by Rev. Steve Dale 

From the Hacking Christianity blog

From United Methodist Communications

The #UMComTips video series on YouTube offers help with online worship and giving

Online communications training for churches GCFA tech support will conduct weekly Facebook Live sessions each Wednesday to help churches utilize online communications resources. Find them on GCFA’s Facebook page @GCFAUMC Learn more about these sessions

Remote meeting resources

Free Conference Calls: https://www.freeconferencecall.com/

Web based conferencing video/audio services:

Zoom videoconferencing has a free version. Learn more about Zoom

Google Hangouts is another option for gathering online. Learn more about 

G Suite from Google includes a videoconferencing tool (Meet). Nonprofits can get free access to G Suite.

WebEx Cisco offers a free as well as paid version of its videoconferencing software

Skype for calls or video

 

Copyright

GCFA video series on copyright for churches. Find it on their YouTube channel

United Methodist Publishing House Grants Temporary Permission for UM Book of Worship and UM Hymnal Ritual Resources – UPDATED April 13, 2020