Worship Resources

In the Baptist tradition, worship is not the same necessarily.  In my work with the ABCNYS Region, I am with a different congregation every week.  You can expect some elements:  preaching, singing, praying, and the giving of tithes and offerings.  How worship unfolds differs, and the praise of God goes upward.

Right now, we’re in a liminal time where we have realized something that we have in common:  in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic, we are not able to gather as we are accustomed.  Church leaders are learning how to adjust to forms of virtual worship, sometimes feeling stretched to our ends, and in other ways, reminded how we can still worship in unique times, in dislocated times, as the people shaped by the Gospel.

The worship resources I am listing are by no means the only ones out there.  In the whirlwind of people scrambling to help out each other, I am grateful for colleagues who keep sharing ideas and links as we all struggle together to keep our church bodies nourished with worship that invites reflection, inspiration, hope and yes, lament as we navigate uncertain times yet return (in modified form) to a corporate body of believers to listen to the Word, to sing and pray to God and support the ministries of the local church, our shared ABCNYS family, and the communities who need the Gospel to be made known in word and deed alike.

 ABC/USA:

The Office of the General Secretary is soliciting and posting worship materials, prayer requests and other devotional materials to inspire and support fellow American Baptists. 
http://www.abc-usa.org/21daysofprayer/

WORSHIP RESOURCES:

These two resources offer a variety of materials:

https://worship.calvin.edu/resources/resource-library/covid-19-and-worship-resources-for-churches-adapting-to-social-isolation

 

https://preachingandworship.org/search/COVID-19?pqid=4253898&page=1

FIGURING OUT ZOOM FOR WORSHIP:

Facebook tools for faith communities:

https://www.facebook.com/community/faith/

 

A church provides their congregants with an intro to Zoom---use link to download PDF file:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.cloversites.com/03/03aa9732-dbdb-4c30-bdbb-e85552b73c26/documents/ZOOM_Startup_Guide.pdf

A helpful overview of understanding Zoom as a platform for facilitating worship:

https://reyes-chow.com/zoom-worship-laboratory/

 

Using both Zoom and FB Live together:

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115000350406-Streaming-a-Meeting-or-Webinar-on-Facebook-Live?mobile_site=true&fbclid=IwAR2dwkKn_haadYj81M38AFU1DsDJE2zKYCjDDAtNtT6_w22ZzTIUKjBBnmA   

PASTORAL CARE

Blogs and posts abound online in many ministry websites and forums.  For now, I share a couple of posts from Eileen Campbell-Reed as she offers some thoughts:

 

https://www.christiancentury.org/blog-post/guest-post/10-guidelines-pastoral-care-during-coronavirus-outbreak

 

https://eileencampbellreed.org/2020/03/23/resources-for-pandemic-pastoring/

 

FUNERALS

The New York State Council of Churches has a variety of pastoral resources as well as issues related to public policy and challenges COVID19 raises:

https://nyscoc.org/our-issues/disaster-response/

A challenge right now is how to care for the dying, to care for their loved ones, and to deal with restrictions that make funeral planning and services challenging at the present time.  The Massachusetts Council of Churches offers these thoughts, somewhat contextual to MA, but good to read as you ponder—link will download a PDF:

 

https://www.masscouncilofchurches.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/2020.03.24-Christian-Funerals-during-COVID19-Version-3.0.pdf