Resources for Worship Planning

Enjoy the opening worship from Annual Conference 2020.

Diamond Nurse, the CEO and Chief Social Media Strategist of Diamond M.I.N.E. Group in Charlotte, NC, will be speaking at next Tuesday's Recover. Restore. Retreat. webinar series! She’ll be talking about how to build genuine communities online, strengthening your presence across platforms and will answer any of your social media related questions.

We want to hear how COVID-19 is affecting your congregation. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey to let us know how the Conference can best support you at this time.

How do we plan ahead for worship in times that are "a-changing?" What is the key to flexibility in planning that will help us to pivot no matter the physical circumstances? Why is the liturgical year more important than ever right now as a framework for our spiritual journeys? How can we offer deeply meaningful and memorable worship when we are distanced, fractured, restricted, and tired? These topics and more as we prepare for planning ahead and planning together for the 2020-2021 liturgical year!

Amidst heightened demand, the United Methodist Communications training team has launched a new set of online courses designed to assist those in leadership tasked with creating and maintaining engaging online worship experiences in a socially distanced world.

Due to the pandemic, many churches are shifting worship outside. In this episode, Luke Edwards talks with Caitlin McAlhany, Pastor of Randall UMC and Porter UMC, about what she has learned about outdoor worship after three years of launching and leading Randall By the River. Listen to Means of Grace at https://www.wnccumc.org/meansofgrace or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Resource Center is reopening on 8/1/20 for shipping only. Visitors are not permitted at this time.

There are so many things that you could do with IG Live. Here are some ways you could use it.

The Office of Church Development is excited to announce that we have negotiated a great deal to offer corporate licenses to all WNC Conference churches through Zoom. These licenses have several great features, such as: Hosting up to 300 participants per meeting, unlimited number and length of meetings, cloud recording, polling, chat, dial in numbers for audio by phone, streaming to online services (like Facebook Live), and transcription. The discounted price is a year of Zoom for $120, which is half off the regular price. The Office of Church Development is also offering a $60 matching grant to the first 500 churches that request it (limit one per church). Churches can register for as many licenses as you need, but there is a limit of one matching grant per church.

As faithful disciples of Jesus Christ in the midst of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we remain committed to our Biblical mandate to "love our neighbors as ourselves" and our Wesleyan call to “do no harm.” In doing so, we seek ways to engage faithfully in worship, study, and ministry while ensuring the health and safety of our members and communities. We do not recommend returning to indoor worship at this time. Continue hosting online, drive-in, or outdoor worship services while following CDC, state and local guidelines, including handwashing, wearing masks, and observing physical distancing rules.

The Committee on Relief has secured a donation of cloth face masks through FEMA. These masks are available to staff and volunteers of non-profit organizations and will be available to distribute in the next week(s).   Interested churches or organizations should fill out the following request form. COR will review requests and distribute masks. For additional information contact Ben Rogers (brogers@wnccumc.org).

An extensive resource from Candler School of Theology featuring in-depth guidance and advice from an ecumenical group of theologians, scientists, physicians, pastors, bishops, and practitioners. This guide includes theological foundations, benchmarks, best practices, planning checklist, and practical solutions.

We have curated a list of resources for celebrating Pentecost virtually with your congregation and small groups, or at home with your family!

Our nation will soon pass a grievous point in history: 100,000 Americans will have died from COVID-19. As people of faith, we cannot allow this grim number to go unnoticed. Always and everywhere, it is the duty of religious communities to remember the dead and mourn their passing. We call on religious and political leaders to take a time of prayer, Monday, June 1st at 12 p.m. to acknowledge, lament, and mourn all those we have lost.

Rev. Denise Kilgo-Martin walks through three tutorial videos of using StreamYard to live stream worship - starting with a basic, introductory video and moving into advanced features.

Video editing is the process of taking raw footage from your smartphone or other camera and formatting it for your viewers. This training from UM Communications will help you learn how to use Adobe Rush to edit your videos and format them for popular platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Alex A. Shanks explores why reopening a church is different than reopening a business. "Planning for the future during COVID-19 presents challenges for the church unlike any other. How will we lead in a time of change?"

As we emerge from the crisis of the last weeks and enter a new era of being church, establishing strong spiritual disciplines requires innovation, mutual support and accountability. Join one of these learning sessions to grow alongside your clergy and lay peers.

With questions arising about viral safety and communal singing, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Chorus America, Barbershop Harmony Society, and Performing Arts Medical Association (PAMA) present an important webinar about the near term future of singing as we seek fact based solutions in protecting our singers, teachers, and conductors during this time.

With Facebook rolling out the new Live Producer, we want to be sure you have the information you need to keep live streaming your services! *Please note, as of now, the camera option for Live Producer only works in the Chrome Beta and/or Firefox browsers.