Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The global turmoil surrounding the coronavirus or COVID-19 virus has forced all of life: businesses, schools, and even churches into a new normal–we are all in uncharted waters at the moment.
How does the church respond? How do we be the church amidst social isolation and preventative measures that keep us apart?
We are seeing churches adapt and use creative means to continue ministering in the most challenging of times. In order to continue proclaiming Christ through His word, livestream technology is being employed by churches using a variety of platforms (e.g. Facebook, Youtube, Zoom). For some, tackling this technology is as daunting as rebuilding a car transmission, for others, the technology brings excitement and fun experimentation.
At Gafcon, we have created a webpage here that has begun listing suggestions and tips from around the world in how to use livestream technology and equipment associated with the medium. Provinces from Australia and Brazil to North America are pulling together, sharing and learning about the technologies and systems that work best in their context. In one Brazilian parish, there were more than 2,600 views of the Youtube online service. 700 people had connected during a devotional time on Instagram called “Church in Home.”
The technologies being used are not only for the simple provision of information, but they are also a means for the church to continue to engage and even fellowship in these strangest of days. Many ideas and activities are being shared to engage and serve parishioners in Christ’s name. For this reason, we have created a web page that lists different ministry ideas during this crisis.
In addition, Zoom conference calls will be held throughout the week for those in ministry who would like to learn and share ideas for ministry and technology for the church in action during this crisis. Gafcon UK’s Susie Leafe and Gafcon Global Anglicans Communication Director, Ernie Didot, will co-host the following schedule:
- 24/03/20 Tuesday at 3 p.m. GMT for United Kingdom
- 25/03/20 Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. GMT (12 p.m. Lago, Nigeria) for Europe/Africa
- 25/03/20 Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. GMT (12:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time) for North America
- 26/03/20 Thursday at 7:45 a.m. GMT (6:45 p.m. Sydney Time) for Oceana/Australia
- Brazil/Portuguese – TO BE ANNOUNCED (likely to be 27/03/20 Friday or later)
Please fill this brief form out if you are interested in joining the Zoom call for your region and a Zoom link will be provided.
Grace and Peace,
The Gafcon Secretariat
