A Gateway on the Internet

Church online used to be for those who accidentally slept in, didn’t feel very good, had too much going on, or had some other reason they couldn’t make it to the physical location. But now with COVID-19, most of America, nay, the World is going to church online.  Many churches that have large congregations can afford to have a production and streaming crew each week and already do so, so when this all happened they had a seamless transition to doing something they have already been doing for years. But what happens to churches that have smaller congregations, smaller budgets, and have never really done online services? Well, many in the Grove City area are familiar with the local church Gateway. Gateway is compromised of college students and young families and is generally a smaller congregation that has never needed to go online.  I have been very grateful and impressed with how easily they have been able to transition.  But I know many other small churches have not been able to.  I think it is more important than ever to try and find some sort of church family, and many might not be able to stream a service online.  Here is a link to Gateways YouTube Chanel

From statistics shown in a survey by RNS, 54% of churches saw a increase in congregation, but almost all Churches saw a decrease in giving.  This is amazing to see attendance up, but not surprising because people can just roll out of bed.  But this problem of decreased giving will also cause churches to innovate and move to online giving.  Churches will be forced to innovate in many ways and it will be interesting and amazing to see how God will use this time to spread the gospel. I wanted to include some resources for churches and people to see how many are innovating this way.

Here is a link to The Bible Project, they have moved to a weekly podcast with a community devotional set up. This would be a great temporary resource for someone who can’t find an online church. Click here

Here is an article that includes how to set up online giving for a church

Here is an article by Wall Street Journal to see how many other churches and religious organizations are dealing with the crisis.