Here are just some of the ways churches and groups used technology to stay connected in the first lockdown and beyond:
Streaming Services
Welton Baptist Church were streaming their Sunday gatherings via YouTube Three components comprise of 15-20 minutes worship led by someone from their home; sermon, plus news and links with overseas mission links.
To find out more about streaming have a look at this link.
Social Media and Messaging
Upper Stratton Baptist Church were using Facebook and Instagram for important/regular updates for their church family. They also used WhatsApp for urgent concerns within the community.
Zoom etc
Cirencester Baptist Church is encouraged homegroups to ‘meet’ via Zoom.
Wotton, Nailsea and Cirencester Baptist Churches used this platform to connect with their Youth Groups. When planning to use technology to stay connected with children and young people, be sure to keep in mind these Safeguarding guidelines from Baptists Together.
Upper Stratton used Zoom for their daily office and devotionals, for small groups and even for Sunday mornings.
The webnet team held trustee and staff meetings via Zoom and Teams.
Baptist minister Simon Goddard led some helpful Zoom tutorials which you can see here.
Resources and Ideas for Children, Youth and Family Workers
Becky from Milton BC recommended these two websites for useful and inspiring resources for children:
One Way UK and Parenting For Faith
Care for the family also have a dedicated page to help families through this time.
Have a look at Scripture Union’s Make & Pray videos. Great fun to share with your children’s groups or on Sunday mornings.
At Cirencester they also used Zoom to hold parent ‘chat’ times over coffee, as well as playing online games and doing online challenges to stay connected and have some fun together.
Corsham BC set up a Youtube channel called ‘CBC Junior Church’ where they posted junior church sessions and bedtimes stories for different age groups. You can read their story here.
Other Digital Tools for Churches
A group of Christian technologists have provided some useful how-to guides to help churches through this season. This is a crowdsourced index of useful digital communication tools, packed with solutions.