Amidst the pandemic outbreak, suspension of in-person worship continues. We invite you to worship with your local congregation virtually. You can view the link to online worship on the Dakotas Conference website’s church directory. If the link for your online worship opportunity does not show up or is incorrect, please e-mail us.

One of the advantages of worshipping virtually is the opportunity to check out services from other churches. This week two Dakotas Conference congregations, Bowman UMC and Mitchell Downtown First UMC, invite you to view worship.

An invitation from Rev. Ray Sherwood, Bowman UMC, Bowman, North Dakota:

Brenda Sherwood operates the camera from a recommended social distance while Anne and Lane Dingfelter lead a worship medley of old favorite hymns during worship in Bowman UMC, Bowman, ND, on April 19, 2020.

Please join us online! Our church has been trying to do different things in the way we reach out to our own church and our community.

On Palm Sunday we did a parade around town for our elderly and shut ins. I called them ahead of time to make them aware. As we drove around, we honked our horns and waved our palm leaves.

Also, on Easter Sunday all the churches in town got together and did an Easter parade (about 30 cars) being led by the police with the siren blaring and horns honking. It was amazing as people came out on their front porches waving and yelling, “Happy Easter!”

As with most of you, we have been using Facebook Live for our worship service on Sunday. We have been using different musical talents from our church to give everyone a different flavor of music. It gives our musicians the opportunity to participate in a church service, and as an added bonus, they get to stay and watch the service in-person instead of on Facebook Live!

We are doing a weekly newsletter instead of a monthly newsletter. This way we can keep those on Facebook aware of upcoming events and then send a paper copy to those who do not have email. We do a Wednesday Announcement and Devotion for the church as well.

Pastor Keith Nelson added, "Another new thing we're doing is our 'memorial table' that we've created since the pandemic began. Each time a church member dies (since we've had to go to virtual worship) we've added a candle to the table and the person's name to the list. It's a reminder that we have lost people in our congregation...but that we haven't been able to be together as a church family to grieve the loss and/or honor the person who died."

An invitation from Rev. Keith Nelson, Mitchell Downtown first UMC, Mitchell, South Dakota:

We'd be happy to have you tune in and join us from wherever you are! At Downtown Mitchell First United Methodist Church, we are fortunate that we’ve been utilizing technology for many years.  Our church's worship has been broadcast on local radio for over 70 years. Thanks to Ron Holton and Pastor Hank Kor, our church started video livestreaming worship services at least 12 years ago.  Currently we have just one service on Sunday mornings, at 11:00 am CDT.  It is available on our webpage (www.downtownfirstumc.com), KORN Radio 1490 AM, Mitchell Telecom (cable provider) CH 110, and on our Facebook page. 

Carolyn Knight (children’s ministry director) and I are also regularly doing Facebook Live videos to connect with the community and church family.  We are changing the service order a bit to be more engaging for people connecting with us through technology.  The biggest change is realizing that virtual worship is no longer an “add-on,” it is now the main way we are connecting with people.