By Neal Bradley
As Governor Pritzker was issuing statewide closures and quarantining for live group events in March of 2020, we were weighing our options. Would we survive without live, in-person worship? How could we continue to reach out to our members who were in need, spiritually as well as physically and financially? We didn’t panic. We knew that God would give us a solution.
Most of us at Trinity United Methodist Church in Mount Prospect had never even heard of the online meeting application called “ZOOM.” We were investigating Facebook Live, YouTube and a myriad of other platforms that might work. Under the direction of our pastor, Rev. Wendy Hardin Hermann, we formed a small group of church members and staff and investigated the options.
We then discovered that one of our congregants used Zoom every day in business and was very versed in its functionality. From that point, we moved forward. It was a huge learning curve for most of us but we took it one step at a time. We purchased a Zoom account to accommodate large groups and let everyone know that we would have regular worship on Sunday via Zoom and Facebook Live and also embedded on our website. We then had a few seminars to get everyone in our congregation up and running. It took off from there. A big thank you to our A/V team for doing an incredible job each and every week, not to mention our office administrator Lise Renee, Zoom hosts, greeters, attendance keepers, facilitators, music committee, “ReTurn” committee, and worship committee. It truly has been a community effort.
We were one of the first churches in the area to have live worship on Sunday morning. We felt it was important for all of us to stay in contact with each other one way or another, and Zoom was our platform. We decided to have a before-worship “meet and greet” at 10:10 am, a one-hour service followed by a virtual “coffee hour” so that everyone who wanted to, could socialize and keep in contact with fellow members.
We continued to use Zoom for most church activities including Sunday School, Wednesday Evening Prayer, staff meetings, UMW meetings, choir meetings, bible study, committee meetings, several community groups including B.R.E.A.T.H.E., book club and youth meetings. We even started a “lunch bunch” for those who wanted to connect during the week at noon for lunch. One of our members, Jerry Hug, a well-known photographer, hosted an online iPhone photography course. All proceeds were generously donated by Jerry to community outreach.
One of our favorite Christmas time events has always been our Christmas Pageant. In 2020 church members Lorelei Junkel, Carolyn Schneider and Carmen Talbott led the Christmas pageant movie production team. The movie was streamed via Zoom during our Sunday Service. We also offered Christmas caroling via Zoom. The choir sang on several Sundays via prerecorded individual submissions merged into one movie by one of our choir members, Doug Nafis. We sang the Hallelujah Chorus on Christmas Eve using that same method.
We used our website for volunteer sign up sheets, questionnaires, monetary donations, registration for worship forms, prayer requests, getting to know you forms, event registrations, etc. We also fine-tuned our communications to members by sending out the weekly Tidings newsletter, as well as notifications for special events and prayers, through the mailchimp e-blast platform.
We also had to be innovative for other special events. At Christmas time we organized an outside drive-through “Cookie Walk” sponsored by United Methodist Women, a “Drop Off & Give Back” event which included a Baby Jesus Diaper drop-off and a Pop-up Nativity scene.
During Lent we sponsored several neighborhood prayer walks through the “Love Your Neighbor” campaign organized by our Community Ministries Director Jacki Bogolia. One weekend a group walked over to pray at Robert Frost School, which we continue to support through Trinity’s Food4Kids gift cards program. The Trinity community donated almost $5,000 in gift cards for food insecure families last year.
In the spring of 2021 we held several children’s events including our annual Easter Egg Event and a celebration of Earth Day on the church grounds. Early summer we also hosted an Ice Cream Social and a Pride Month celebration outside in the front of the church along Golf Road.
As Illinois has slowly opened up, we have continued to follow recommended guidelines and practices. As of June 2021, we are again at full capacity. We will, however, continue streaming our services every Sunday via Facebook Live so that members who are housebound and other former members from around the country can still tune in.
It truly has been a wild ride for the past year and a half. But with much prayer and God’s guidance, we made it through.