Rev. Kristina Weber and Rev. Erik Weber Sabbatical Project 2021
We begin with the premise that a major part of being church is centered in the area of relationships and that in-person worship and online worship will be a part of congregational life for years to come. Through conversations with practitioners and participants, we intend to lift up emerging best practices for online worship and community—paying particular attention to how new people get connected and how that connection is meaningful. One question (which it may be too soon to answer) is whether online engagement can be a gateway to in-person connections.
Process and participants:
In February 2020, a group of church leaders gathered in San Diego as part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) Congregational Vitality workshop. This cohort of leaders gathered to consider vital partnerships between well-resourced, stable congregations and neighboring congregations that could benefit from these partnerships. The COVID-19 news at the time was primarily an overseas story, even as the first cases were being identified in Washington. This cohort of leaders did not discuss online worship or ministry but the gathering provided connections to people across the country who care deeply about the future of the church.
This project begins with the acknowledgment that everyone has had tremendous disruption in congregational life since March 2020. Others have chronicled the pain and loss of this time and the ongoing grief that we collectively share. Others have also lifted up the tremendous innovation and adaptation that has occurred throughout the life of the church during this time. We have all sat in the place of saying, “I don’t know” during the pandemic. And we have all found ways to continue to bear witness to God’s love in the world.
At this time, a window is opening for us to collectively name what is ending: our time of physical separation is coming to a close. At the time this article is being prepared about 50% of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of a vaccine, the CDC has issued guidance that fully vaccinated adults can resume nearly normal lives (and forego masks). Congregations are navigating plans to welcome people back to buildings and in-person activities. Even as visions of “everything can go back to normal” fill most of us with energy, relief, and expectation, it is worth noting that something else is ending, namely a period of nearly exclusive attention to online worship and engagement.
We name that this season of physical separation is ending, but we wonder what the emerging future will look like and how it will shape our energy, time, and financial resources. The future does not need to abandon the lessons we have learned during the pandemic. Online worship, meetings, and connections are not going away, so we might as well be attentive to how we incorporate what we have learned during the pandemic into the future of congregational ministry.
Using connections made at the ELCA Congregational Vitality workshop, we set out to visit five congregations to listen to the experience of pastors, staff, and worshipers about the online connections that have developed during the pandemic and to listen to expectations for the season to come.
In April, May, and June of 2021, we visited:
Trinity Lutheran in Crookston, Minnesota
Calvary Lutheran in Clarkston, Michigan
Christ Lutheran in Charlotte, North Carolina
St. Thomas/Holy Spirit Lutheran Church in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Mark Lutheran in West Des Moines, Iowa
We also bring the experiences of the congregations that we serve:
Trinity Lutheran in Jamestown, North Dakota
St. John’s Lutheran in Jamestown, North Dakota
Each of these congregations has particular gifts for online ministry. They did not all start out at the same place. One had been on local cable TV for decades before the pandemic and added streaming during the pandemic. One had been live-streaming worship for several years and had just completed an upgrade and expansion of cameras before the shut-downs occurred. Some added cameras after the shutdowns began. All have offered a way for each congregation to continue to worship and be church together for their own participants and as part of the wider community of faith.
Each of the congregations offered worship, faith formation, leadership meetings, and other opportunities to their existing participants during the pandemic. Each became more attentive to the digital visitor during the pandemic. We asked to speak to any new participants in the congregation since the beginning of the lock-down, that is people whose first experience of the congregation had been online.
Our questions centered on the experience of the new online participant and what they valued about participation with a congregation digitally. How did they first hear about the congregation, what connections have they made, do they ever expect to set foot in the building, how do they feel that they are part of the community?
What we have discovered is that these congregations, which include some of the most committed, well-resourced, and attentive congregations in the ELCA, are still developing processes to identify, track, and connect with the digital first and digital only new participants.
In a series of essays, we will share some of the things we have learned.
Rev. Kristina Weber, Senior Pastor Trinity Lutheran, Jamestown, North Dakota
Rev. Erik Weber, Senior Pastor St. John’s Lutheran, Jamestown, North Dakota
July 2021
Next Suggested Essay