This pandemic faced by the entire world today has led to several changes across nations. Streets are no longer jam-packed, and most people are, in fact, all just staying in their homes. Schools have closed down, work is transferred from a physical office to offices from inside houses, and social gatherings are prohibited. With the latter, even churches are temporarily not allowed to hold masses or services.
When you pass by church grounds on Sundays, it shouldn’t surprise you to see that no cars are flocking with worshippers. Faith and religious activities are also now down individually in their respective homes.
That said, even churches across New York also had to make changes for them to cope with the pandemic crisis. If you’re interested to learn how, here are three (3) summaries.
- Church Services Are Now Made Online
One of the most common ways by which churches in Penfield, New York are coping is that church services are now done online. There are many ways by which worship is completed online, and some of these include the following:
- Some churches and pastors or priests are posting pre-recorded mass or service messages on their websites, or Facebook and YouTube.
- Digital worship guides are also posted on the church’s social media accounts or websites, so worshippers can download these and follow through with home worship. The list of worship songs is also provided so that worshippers can stream the songs from their homes at their convenience.
- Some priests and pastors have also made available live Facebook messages or IGTV recordings, so worshippers can still go through a live worship form.
Thankfully, technology has made these all possible. Else, perhaps even worship services have to be stopped in totality, had it not been for these gifts of technology. This is very important, particularly in stressful times like these, for those individuals that lean on their faith and supreme being for comfort and assurance. For many, it’s also their way to stay sane and keep their anxious thoughts away.
If you’re looking for possible worship services that you can join from the comfort of your home, click here.
- Offering Of Tithes And Pledges Are Made Through Online Transfers
Beyond just spiritual encouragement that churches bring, there are also some members of the faith that need that assurance that when they are in need, they can have the help they need, even financially.
If you take the time to browse through the congregation members of even just one church, you’ll see that naturally, not everyone is of the same status. Different families have their own social and economic status, jobs, demographics, and whatnot. So, this means that in times of a pandemic, when many jobs are unable to go on, as usual, some can manage pretty well with savings.
Unfortunately, some who only live paycheck to paycheck succumb to the difficulties. They usually run to their church community. In times of need, be it financially, health-wise, and even other personal matters, there’s that sense of togetherness among members of a church. So, for many, the offerings of tithes and pledges still have to go on. This is used to help church members in need, and even the general New York community around the church in Penfield.
Today, offerings of tithes and pledges are now also done online to avoid churchgoers from going to the church office just for that purpose. Online bank transfers are the new norm.
- Prayer Meeting Through Video Conferencing
For some churches in New York, there are also smaller prayer and devotion groups within each church to foster the needs of the churchgoers. For instance, there are prayer meeting groups for women, men, teenagers, young couples, young adults, children’s Sunday school, to name a few.
But, as of late, even these small groups have to cancel their physical get-togethers. House visits for prayer meeting groups are also not being done anymore. The new norm in church culture now is meetings via video conferencing apps such as Facebook messenger, Zoom, and Skype.
Through video conferencing, every church member that belongs to the group is all just in the comforts of their own homes. They meet at an agreed day and time, then gather together just as if they were all physically in one place.
With these video conferencing apps, prayer meetings don’t have to stop. This keeps the church prayer meetings going, particularly when there are church members who are sick, and those who have been infected by the pandemic virus. For these patients that need all the hope and motivation that they can get, these meetings can highly uplift their spirits because they still get to pray with the same group that they’ve been used to praying with together.
Takeaways
With all these changes, there are indeed big adjustments in many social groups everywhere, including businesses, the academe, even religious institutions all have to adjust. People now live in an age where technology is advanced enough to make the changes easier. Churches in New York as well as around the world are adjusting, but, they’re coping quite well. For those that have put their life into their religious and faith practices, all these still give them that sense of comfort, together, and normalcy, even if the standards of the church “new normal” has also evolved.
