Engaging People

Rev. Joshua Patty
Regional Minister and President

Is your worship planning more stressful than usual this summer?

If so, you're not alone. We are in a season of transition from ministering during a global pandemic to what comes next. There is still a lot of uncertainty.

Over the past year, many people have yearned to return to in person church activities, including worship. And over the past year, many people have discovered new spiritual practices, including a variety of online experiences.

Here's an important reality as we plan worship in the season ahead. Many people are in both of these groups. They want to worship in person... sometimes. And, for a variety of reasons, they want opportunities to worship online sometimes.

I think there is an unspoken need, regardless of whether worship is an in person or online experience. People want to be engaged and connected -- with God, with deeper meaning and purposes for their lives, with opportunities to serve and give, with space for reflection and healing, with chances to interact with other people of faith.

Providing meaningful and concrete ways for people to engage and connect will be a key responsibility for us in the months ahead. The good news is that we've had space to experiment over the past year to find things that work in our congregations. Partially, we've probably realized that it takes different approaches to invite engagement online as opposed to in person.

Creating engaging in person and online worship might seem like a challenge too big for your congregation. It may be initially, but there probably are opportunities for people to serve in new ways. (For example, what would it be like if you had volunteers who prayed and interacted with people in real time in your online worship space?)

This recent article offers some practical dos and don'ts, which I hope you will discuss with all of your worship leaders.

And, if you discover some successes, don't keep them to yourself. Email me. In the coming months, I'd like to share more of your stories in this space in Worship Together.

Invite Regional Minister to Worship

To invite the regional minister to join you in worship, please email me (josh@uppermidwestcc.org). Usually, these visits will be planned weeks in advance, so extend your invitations early. Also, so that I can visit in person with more of our 117 congregations each year, I would especially welcome invitations for non-Sunday morning activities.