Latest Coronavirus Updates & Resources

Easter Worship Experience Being Developed

A Conference worship team is meeting (virtually) this week to assemble an Easter worship experience that local churches will be invited to utilize. Churches will be given instructions on how to access it, along with recommendations for local communities to gather remotely in conjunction with it. More to come.

Essentials

Kent Siladi writes: "I don’t believe that the Governor is referring to pastors needing to sit at their desks at church in order for ministry to take place ... I think the Governor might understand that faith is essential in times of trouble and challenge and we are certainly in such a time."

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Scarcity or Generosity?

David Cleaver-Bartholomew writes: "As the Coronavirus and its effects on people’s livelihoods has become more severe, I have been struggling with the question of how we can talk about giving to the One Great Hour of Sharing Special Offering, the RIP Medical Debt Initiative, and the local and the wider church generally. Along with the understandable fear is a powerful pull for people and churches to go down the path of scarcity thinking, to adopt a 'batten down the hatches' mentality."

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Beware of Zoombombing

Tiffany Vail writes: "There’s a new type of malicious behavior proliferating called Zoombombing. This is when people find publicly posted links to Zoom meetings, crash the meeting and then share their screen to display pornography or other inappropriate materials."

New Resources Posted:

On the Online Worship & Alternatives Resource Page we have added a Tutorial for editing the auto-generated close captioned subtitles on YouTube, as well as guidelines for improving sound in your videos.

A list of curated resources is now available on the Resources for Children, Youth and Families page in the categories of: Faith Formation at Home, Resources for Households in Times of Stress, At Home Activities for Children and Youth, and Tips for Faith Formation and Youth Leaders.

Weekly Conversation with the Bridge Conference Ministers

Thursday, March 26, at 1:30 PM the three Bridge Conference Ministers will be joined by Rev. Andrew Warner, Generosity Outreach Officer for the United Church of Christ, speaking.about faith and finances in a time of challenge. Watch via Zoom or Facebook - find out more here.