Prepare Your Congregation for Online Worship



So we face the inevitable - online worship!  Your people are in agreement to do online worship service but will they really worship and at best serve?  Here are some ideas on how to prepare your church to worship and serve during the online worship service.

TECHNOLOGY 

Meaningful worship exalts God through His word, prayer, service, and fellowship.  A pastor can check the first two with ease, but the last two might be a challenge.  That is why I like FB messenger, Google Hangout, Skype and Zoom.  They facilitate an interaction that FB Live might fall short from.  However, FB Live has real-time comments that might just do the trick.

PREPARATION 

Not all of your congregants are techy.  So what do you do?  Prepare your people before Sunday.  Teach them how to use their smartphones, download the apps or use a computer.  If that is too much, ask their 2nd grader to help them out.   Finally, post these advice days before the event.



PARTICIPATION 

As noted above,  FB live streaming might limit your congregation’s way to “serve”.  But with FB live, your people can man the comments and answer them, watch the prayer request and send them to the facilitator. If this is too limited,  use apps that have video interaction.  Through any of these, one can lead to doing prayer, special music, read scriptures and so on. 

FOLLOW UP 

Encourage your congregation to do something these next few days.  2-week quarantine is a goldmine for discipleship.  Maybe through FB messenger, your small groups can meet on doing things together like bible study, prayer, cooking or teaching a craft or skill.  Have a youth or children chat time.  Parents will love you for doing that.

So it is Worship Service after all where everyone is worshipping and serving.  If you have thoughts to share, make comments below.  Have a great online worship serve-ice!

Other resource:
4 Principles for Online Worship

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