Virtual Church for Actual People

14 January, 2021

It wasn’t planned. At least, I didn’t plan it. In the 10th month of the Year of Covid, I was suddenly jobless and at a loss as to what God had in store for us next. Job offers came in, but none lit us up. A good friend called me and said, “Don’t just do something – sit there.” Best advice ever.

In the flood of emails, texts, phone calls and visits to our home, we kept hearing the same stories, the same requests: “We want to keep hearing your lessons. Start a virtual church.” I resisted. I’m a 64yr old man with high mileage already. What do I know about starting a virtual…

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Poetry Column – January 2021 I’m grateful for the invitation to write a poetry column for Wineskins, and to share my passion for non-sappy Christian verse (and the connection with Bible passages.) The most oft-printed poem I’ve ever written appears in the Howard Publishing company hymnbook, Songs of Faith and Praise. I offer it here as a (perhaps familiar) introduction […]

Online Church and Learning to be Flexible We had a first on Sunday…our worship leaders were leading worship from their living room as both of them were recovering from COVID! The picture that goes with this article was my view on Sunday while the worship leaders sang from their home. We listened and sang along with their familiar voices even though we […]

The Church Has Always Been a Virtual Body Deanna Thompson describes herself as a “digital skeptic,” but that changed while undergoing the isolation imposed by a serious cancer diagnosis. During that difficult time, friends and family members connected with her through virtual tools, and that care and assistance caused her to rethink the power of digital relationships. She highlights an insight by Jason […]

Jolly, Jaded, or Joy: Following the Light of Advent into the Challenges of Online Church During the middle of last year, I imagined that turning the page in our calendar into a new year would mean that we’d finally left our “unprecedented” season behind. But, it seems clear that as we enter into 2021, challenging times are still ahead of us even though 2020 is (thankfully) in our rear view […]

January Theme: Online Church When the pandemic hit in March many churches moved to an online format. Some already had this in place. Others had to make needed shifts to get the technology in place to livestream or pre-record service. The results has been an endless supply of online material as well as efforts to keep various congregations moving […]