Faithful Adaptation: Connecting Your People

On Thursday, March 19, Luther Seminary’s Faith+Lead Learning Lab hosted the first in a series of Faithful Adaptation Webinars.

Thanks to all who participated in the first-ever Faithful Adaptation webinar, hosted on Luther Seminary’s Faith+Lead Learning Lab.

Twice a week, for the next several weeks, Faith+Lead will host a space where you can connect with ministry peers to discuss your needs, your challenges, your learnings–and most importantly, where God is showing up in the midst of this very real disruption.

The webinar focused on “Connecting Your People.” It was amazing to connect with leaders from around the continent and to join in prayer, God’s Word, listening to one other, and learning more about how to connect with your people in this time.

The next webinar will be Tuesday, March 24 at 1 p.m. (Central), focused on Holy Week worship and ideas, and the webinar series will continue each Tuesday and Thursday for the next several weeks.

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Resources

Presenters

Session 1 presenters Ben McDonald Coltvet (Luther Seminary) and Pastor Joy McDonald Coltvet (Christ on Capitol Hill Lutheran Church, St. Paul, Minnesota) shared their experience and insights gained in the last week at Christ on Capitol Hill. They discussed hosting worship online in a variety of modes (Facebook Live, Zoom, Facebook Watch Party), and also talked about the opportunities of gathering people to build community (including coffee hour and game night) in this time of physical distancing.

Online Worship Tips

• Read Online Church during a Pandemic by Nancy Ross, a church leader who has been leading online worship for the past couple of years. Nancy provides a great overview of the options for congregational online worship. (source: The Faith+Leader)
• Zoom and online church: Visit https://www.vasynod.org/zoom/for basics on how to get started using Zoom and how to be the church online (source: ELCA Virginia Synod)
• Online worship listing: Check out this Google doc for a listing of congregations hosting online worship (source: Bruce Reyes-Chow). Feel free to post your congregation’s worship URL in the comments below this post.  
• Facebook Live instructions: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/facebook-live-guide (Source: Hubspot)
• Facebook Watch Party: https://www.facebook.com/help/1681245065258554?helpref=about_content (Source: Facebook)

If you have another resource to suggest, please add it in the comments below with a brief word about how this resource has been useful in your context.

And, of course, there’s the continual reminder to practice good self-care. Read Taking care of yourself as a pastor in a time of crisis by Emily McQuillan on The Faith+Leader blog.

Help us Shape Future Sessions

Finally, we’d love your input for planning upcoming sessions. Please participate in the Slido poll and indicate the topics that interest you most. You can also suggest topics by clicking on the Q&A tab at the top of the page and type in (or vote for) the topic that’s most pressing for you.

Thanks for participating in this ongoing learning opportunity!

Screenshot by Ben McDonald Coltvet, Faithful Adaptation webinar session01