It’s Working for Us!

We have all found ourselves in a time of adaptive change. First, we have to find another way to gather for worship, now we have to figure out ways to serve our parish and faith community. While every ministry is contextual, we are inviting you to share your ideas so that others may be inspired by your creative approaches to ministry – in times such as these.

Please fill out the form below – ideas will be shared on social media as well as on our website.

May God continue to bless you and if you have any questions please reach out to your colleagues, District Superintendent, and conference staff. We are all learning together.

Image
So - how's it working for your
church, parish, ministry?
Share your ideas with us! 
Follow this link to share.

We celebrate the Hopeful, Innovative, Invitational and Generative leaders across the West Virginia Conference - these attributes are what we strive for as we discover, develop and deploy passionate spiritual leaders who make disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the world!

Ideas from around the WVUMC:

Jim Minutelli, CLM
West Buckhannon UMC, Wesleyan District
(304) 629-9398

The idea...what worked?

Facebook Live and YouTube for worship and DialMyCalls for low cost phone tree messaging, card and phone calls - member to member, phone calls from the pastor, Facebook Messenger for group chats.

Pam Braden, Laity
Calvary UMC Ripley, Little Kanawha District
(304) 532-3769 

The idea...what worked?

Children’s Moment. A family videoed themselves giving the children’s message and posted it on the church Facebook page. They set the video to show beginning at 9:20 which was expected to be about the time the live streamed sermon would end.

Deborah Coble, Clergy
Buffalo UMC, Midland South District
(681) 587-0820

The idea...what worked?

Anticipating that we would not be able to worship together for a few weeks - we put together take home bags for the 30 families who are part of our regular worshipping community.

Included in the bag was a hymnal, a letter from the pastor, a seashell to help us remember our baptism, a seed packet to remember to tend and grow during this season, a bottle of bubbles to remember to have fun, a newly revised church directory, a flyer from the CDC with suggestions on how to stay healthy and also symptoms of Covid-19, and a blank card so that we can send cards to those who are homebound.

We did this so that we could worship together (using Facebook Live right now) and use our hymnals for prayer and praise. Our hymnals are our theology in song.

People were really excited to receive their bags and we had great participation in worship on Sunday!

Dwayne Brown, Clergy
Weston-Walkersville Charge, Wesleyan District
(304) 476-4476

The idea...what worked?

I did a Live Facebook service from my home office. It was just under 20 minutes with Hope, Prayer, and my Sermon for that Sunday. I had approximately 140 views with several good comments.

Shannon Blosser, Clergy
Beverly Hills UMC, Western District
(304) 923-6150

The idea...what worked?

We have modified our bulletin to enable a deeper worship experience. We send it out early in the week and encourage people to have it with them. We also doing daily video devotions, online studies, and doing constant updates.

Cassie Kile, Clergy
Mt. Pleasant UMC, Little Kanawha District
(304) 550-9913

The idea...what worked?

Prerecording everything and posting prior to Sunday services - that means scheduling each post so that it is already uploaded and you don't have trouble at "go-time!"

Barry Ball, Clergy
(302) 228-0383

The idea...what worked?

  • While doing pastoral care (by phone or computer) don't forget to speak to the children! They will be thrilled you care, you know their names, they get to talk on the phone! Challenge them to draw you a picture of a Bible story, share the pictures on social media. Challenge them to check on their friends and the elderly in church (win win with relationships when this is all over!). The possibilities are endless...kinda like Grace!
  • Putting community resources reminders in food pantry boxes/bags.
  • The North Georgia Annual Conference offered an hour Zoom meeting with creative ideas on how to fund your ministry during these crazy times. The leaders on this topic were from Horizons Stewardship. If you go to their home page (Horizons Stewardship) you can sign up to use their free resources.

Judy Pysell, Clergy
Richwood Charge, Greenbrier District
(304) 667-1473

The idea...what worked?

Serving older congregations in rural WV you use what is available to communicate. For those who have a computer or cell phone we have been using texting, messaging, and Facebook. For those who do not, we have turned back the hands of time to snail mail and land lines. In all they have been well received and appreciated.

Carolyn Mash, Clergy
Summersville Memorial UMC, Greenbrier District
(304) 772-5343

The idea...what worked?

Summersville Memorial UMC put together and delivered 160 gift bags to be given to the employees of Summersville Regional Medical Center. The gift bags were filled with granola bars, candy, chips, nuts, a pocket prayer cross, and a scripture card with a thank you. Members of the congregation made special donations for this ministry. We chose to do this in lieu of a Maundy Thursday Service. The bags were delivered on Good Friday.

James Malick, Clergy
Gassaway UMC, Wesleyan District
(304) 364-6078

The idea...what worked?

We are using our blessing box to feed Gassaway. Twice a day we fill the box with such items is toilet paper, soap, peanut butter, microwavable meals, fruit juice, soup crackers, laundry detergent, paper towels, and such. For Easter folks even put in chocolate bunnies. For us it's a wonderful ministry because it's not judgmental if you need something you take something if you have something to give you can put it in the box.

Matthew Paugh, Clergy
St. Paul's UMC, Oakland MD, Potomac Highlands District
(301) 453-3405

The idea...what worked?

A Facebook Live Hymn Sing - Rev Paugh & his wife, Melissa Paugh take requests, interact with the people through the chat function. Simple set up as Rev Paugh plays the piano and they both sing. They are both very musically gifted. (Submitted by Cheryl George)