COVID-19 Updates and
Resources for Congregations

 

The latest statements from Bishop Scarfe can be found on our News page here.

Planning for a virtual annual meeting? Read our guidance here.

COVID-19 updates and resources from The Episcopal Church can be found here.

OUR ABOUNDING IN HOPE GUIDANCE FOR CHURCHES can be found here.

Practicing the Way of Love in the time of COVID-19

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TURN: Pause, listen and choose to follow Jesus

  • Like the disciples, we are called by Jesus to follow the Way of Love. With God’s help, we can turn from the powers of sin, hatred, fear, injustice, and oppression toward the way of truth, love, hope, justice, and freedom. In turning, we reorient our lives to Jesus Christ, falling in love again, again, and again. In this time, this practice may involve turning off the news and social media stream from time to time and turning towards activities that spread love and hope outward—a call to a friend, a message of love chalked on your driveway for neighbors as they pass, etc.

Worship: Gather (ONLINE, by PHONE, OR AS A FAMILY) weekly to thank, praise, and dwell with God

  • FOR CHURCHES wishing to meet entirely online or stream a service from the church building: Visit https://www.iowashare.org/online-worship for ideas and tips.
    Church publishing has made the use of hymns in the Hymnal 1982 available for licensing through OneLicense during this time.

    And things to think about as you are weighing your decisions about meeting online that includes other helpful suggestions for ways of connecting instead of or in addition to meeting online.

    FOR CHURCHES who wish to meet by teleconference only: https://www.freeconferencecall.com provides free teleconference service. It is easy to set up your free account and share the dial-in number and password with people by mail or email.

  • The Eformation Learning Community at VTS has lots of resources, including these videos on how to livestream a service here and here. Also there is pre-recorded Zoom meeting on Leading Creative Worship online here.

  • Here is an example of an approach that doesn’t involves streaming.

  • Calculating online attendance: We have a template for calculating and tracking online attendance at worship. We invite you to track live views (on Facebook this is called Peak Live Viewers and on YouTube it is Peak Concurrent Views) and total views (on Facebook we will use 1-minute views for this number and on YouTube, total views). We also have a simple step-by-step guide to finding the numbers you need from Facebook and YouTube. Attendance will = Total Views x 1.4, as videos are often watched by more than one person from the same screen. The General Convention Office is continuing to examine the realities of reporting church attendance in the age of COVID-19, and will provide additional guidance as it is developed.

  • Check out Imagine Church - a new online worship opportunity offered by the Diocese of Atlanta.

  • Resources for Sundays, Major Feasts and Life Passages while under Quarantine: A folder of resources from VTS that includes ante-communion, agape feasts, a life passages resource (births, adoptions, weddings, sickness, dying and death, etc). Watch the webinar.

  • Resources for planning for Lent and Holy Week, including Ash Wednesday

  • Resources for planning for Advent and Christmas during the pandemic: View our curated collection of Advent and Christmas resources for churches and families.

Pray: Dwell intentionally with God daily

Learn: Reflect on Scripture each day, especially on Jesus’ life and teachings.

Online formation opportunities

  • St. Alban's in Spirit Lake is offering an Adult Bible Study on Wednesday nights at 7:00pm. Learn more and sign up here.

  • St. John's in Dubuque offers an online Adult Forum/Bible Study at 9:00am each Sunday. Register here.

Is your congregation offering an online formation opportunity that is open for others in the diocese to attend? Let us know so we can help get the word out!

Bless: Share faith and unselfishly give and serve

How can we continue to bless each other and the world even when we need to be physically distant from each other? Here are some ideas:

  • Make and use a phone tree so members can check in on one another. Consider splitting the congregation up into groups and assigning each group to a vestry member who will check in each week. Make a targeted list for those who are not online, their contact will include a read through of all communication, if they would like that, and be more frequent. 

  • Find ways to volunteer safely during the pandemic here: http://volunteeriowa.galaxydigital.com

  • I-Serv Iowa is seeking volunteers to serve during this pandemic, including chaplains.

  • Deliver meals or food as needed in the community.

  • Blessing Children in the Home is a simple practice for reminding children how loved they are.

  • Most nursing homes and assisted living facilities are suspending or severely limiting visitors, and many residents are being isolated even from each other to keep them healthy. Call or email the ones in your community to see if you can email them with notes, pictures, and art creations that they could print and share with their residents.

  • Establish prayer partners and pray for each other over the phone. Commit to keep praying for and with each other.

  • If you don’t have one already, create a Facebook group for your church where you can host a “virtual coffee hour” as a way for people to still connect with others at the church.

  • Organize a way for younger, lower risk people to provide childcare for essential workers.

  • Hospitals in the state are requesting face masks that people who sew can make at home. Jo-Ann Fabrics in some locations is even giving away the fabric and material needed. READ MORE.

  • Ask everyone you interact with from a distance how you can pray for them.

  • If your church hosts a regular feeding program or food pantry for the community, can you instead prepare packaged take home meals? Practice scrupulous sanitizing methods of all smooth surfaces and areas where people touch. Volunteers should be healthy, low risk, wear gloves that are changed frequently, practice appropriate hygiene, and maintain physical distancing.

  • AA groups: Individual churches should make the decision about whether recovery groups can continue to meet as long as they practice physical distancing, appropriate hygiene, and are willing to help sterilize surfaces they use. There is an online option available for those who are vulnerable or at risk in your area.

  • Episcopal Church Foundation has a robust list of COVID-19 response resources that they will continue to update here.

  • Contact the blood center in your area and make an appointment to give blood safely.

  • Diocesan youth can find links to gather together online HERE.

Pastoral Care & Health Resources for Wellness:

  • The Episcopal Church in Colorado has a resource page for pastoral and personal well-being in this time.

  • Join in the “Take A Breath” video series with Rev. Dr. Catherine Quehl-Engel, Cornell College Chaplain, in Mt. Vernon, IA: Offerings range from meditations, gentle yoga, centering prayer, and qigong, to simple daily energy medicine routines working with acupressure points, energy centers and pathways of the body, and new classes are added regularly. Includes healing meditations for others, planet, and self.

  • Understand the elongated emotional lifecycle of dealing with a pandemic from Episcopal Relief and Development. Chart/Explanation

  • The Red Cross offers an online free course in mental health resiliency, stress reduction, and supporting others as we deal with this pandemic.

Please continue to support your church by sending in your offering.

Congregations are encouraged to make their collection plate available via the internet. Different donation services are available (Tithe.ly, Vanco, Giving Tools, PayPal, etc). If your congregation already has an online giving option, just be sure to place a prominent collection plate link visible on your homepage. You can then direct people to this link using email updates and social media. If you have questions about beginning online giving, contact Anne Wagner.

Go: listen deeply and live like Jesus

Go online. Go inward. Go deeper in your faith. Go outward to check on neighbors by phone. Go outside as often as possible to take walks. Go virtually into some of the great museums and to watch theater and listen to music. Go listen to a book—Audible just made hundreds of titles free to listen to. Just don’t go into large groups!

Rest: Receive the gift of God’s grace, peace, and restoration

Take this sabbath time seriously. Stay home as much as you can. Put down the busyness of life and live into new habits and new ways of being. Let this be a time of being present to each other in love, if not in physical proximity. We may be apart, but we are never alone, and God is with us!

Have an idea or resource to share?

Episcopal Churches offering regular online worship in Iowa

Let us know if you are offering regular online services and/or formation opportunities and would like to be added to this list!

Morning Prayer

Noonday Prayer

Evening Prayer

Compline

Sunday Morning Worship

In addition to the weekly online diocesan service 

  • Participate in the online diocesan service, offered by a different church across the diocese each week at 10:00am. The service will be found on the diocesan Facebook page, the diocesan Youtube channel, and will be available on the diocesan website. Call-in option for members who only have access to phones (participants on the phone will NOT be able to be heard but will be able to hear the service): 312 626 6799 and enter the Meeting ID as prompted: 365 765 527#

The following churches are offering online worship each Sunday.

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