Sustaining and Growing

 Responding

Sunday Services
When we cancelled all gatherings in the Tab building we had to think very quickly about what we should do on a Sunday. The decision was taken to provide packs to equip and enable everyone to hold their own services in their homes. This was driven by a desire to see each person deliberately enter into worship as an active participant not an observer. Individuals could access online church services/sermons/music that was much better than we could produce, and our place was, through relationship, to enable our church family to worship.
The packs included liturgy for communion, a recorded short sermon, song suggestions and some all age activities. The communion liturgy was followed in an online live zoom meeting. Although produced hurriedly, the thinking that had been done over the past few years as to the purpose of our Sunday morning gatherings, allowed a response that liberated many people to worship within their own homes and as families. There has been very few that have not engaged with the materials. Parents have been equipped to share their faith in new ways with their children. Children have been among the most enthusiastic congregants, sharing snippets of their home worship and their reflections with others. The photos below are a series created by one child which profoundly reflect on the Bible passage in their own context.

This empowering of families to worship together and of children to take a lead is an unexpected blessing, and one that we need to retain.

Pastoral Care
There was a recognised need to ensure that we were in contact with everyone regularly. The pastoral team set up a buddy system, designating 3-4 people each to contact regularly. Beyond that the Private Facebook group has been very active, and midweek groups have moved online.
My initial feeling was that people needed regular devotionals that could be accessed online to help them navigate and process the situation. However, I was advised not to attempt this alone as it would be difficult to maintain. I am glad of the wisdom in this advice, although I think we failed people in not pointing them towards good devotional resources for them to access online.
There has been a desire for more prayer, and additional prayer gathering have been introduced through the week.

Reflection
Busyness and difficulty
Much of the initial response responded to the difficulty of people's situations. Many were adapting to huge changes in life rhythms and patterns. It took me some time to realise that these changes meant some had lots of time on their hands and some were stressed and working harder than ever. Such big changes in life patterns present opportunities to discover new ways of meeting with God, and new challenges in being disciples. Part of the task is enabling people to see these opportunities and recognise decisions they are making in regard to discipleship.

Discipleship and growth
Past the initial response a different aspect begins to emerge, that which moves past simply sustaining people, to calling people to discipleship and growth in the midst of new surroundings. What might this involve?