How are LCAQD churches connecting during COVID-19?

As government regulations and health professional advice inform us to stay home during this time to protect ourselves and our community from the spread of COVID-19, congregations have had to quickly adapt in the way we connect and engage with each other for encouragement and faith-building in difficult times.

Sunday March 29 saw a rapid change in Sunday Service Connections across the LCAQD. The chart below demonstrates that while the largest group was of of communities who utilised some sort of recorded/streamed local content, other options included print, email, DVD, and USB resources. This was particularly helpful for the elderly, and those with unreliable internet connections.

The favoured platforms for delivering streamed/recorded content were Zoom and Youtube.

Some congregations promoted the LCA streamed worship services.

Reported ways of doing Sunday Service on March 29

But being church is about more than content or presentation. There has also been a growing movement to find innovative approaches to community engagement.

While it was reported that the use of pastoral assistants and church leaders provided most of the phone contact, ongoing connection of small groups, supported through technology like Zoom and Facebook, was also highly utilised.

Regular email connection has been utilised for the distribution of resources like those collected at Church@home, sermons and bible studies.

Reported ways of doing community engagement as of Sunday March 29

In a world that will increasingly be seeking ways to stay engaged and connected, moving from the provision of content to spaces for connection will be even more necessary.

What forms of interaction are you using?

For some ideas and resources, see our Ministry & Mission Resources page

This summary of the activities of LCAQD congregations on Sunday March 29 is compiled from Ministry and Mission department research that had been completed by March 30.