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Your weekly update from the Elizabeth River District View this email in your browser
Weekly e-News
February 16, 2021
Each week we pray for a different church or ministry in the district. Please hold in your prayers this week:
 
Great Bridge UMC and
pastor Tim Craig.

An important announcement from Bishop Sharma Lewis regarding District Alignment was announced yesterday, Monday, February 9.

Read the announcement and view the video by clicking here.
The Annual Meeting of the Elizabeth River District Board of Mission, Inc. will be a virtual event via Zoom THIS Sunday, February 21, 2021, at 4 PM.  During the meeting, the Annual Budget will be approved, grants received will be celebrated, and updates from various projects will be given. Click here to register.
The Elizabeth River District will be hosting a webinar on Saturday, March 27 from 9 am to 12 noon for clergy and laity on being in Ministry in a Digital Age. 

Rev. Dr. Michael Beck and Rev. Dr. Roz Picardo, authors of the new book "Fresh Expressions in the Digital Age," will be our speakers. They will share about the shift into digital ministry brought on by the pandemic and share practical steps to getting started. 

Clergy who attend will receive 0.3 CEUs. 

Click here to register.
Do have Kits for Conference that were prepared for the 2020 Annual Conference? Are you starting to prepare Kits for 2021? If you have kits you can drop them off at Haygood United Methodist (4713 Haygood Rd; Virginia Beach 23455) on Sunday, March 7th from 3 pm to 5 pm. 

When you do some, come to Door 1 (it is clearly marked). Please do not contact Haygood for drop information. Contact Marta Pizzeck at 757-739-6491 or by email at erdkits@gmail.com. 
Save the Date: Saturday, April 24 from 9 am to 12 Noon - Both/And webinar sponsored by the Elizabeth River and James River Districts. 

Before the global pandemic, the majority of congregations who were streaming worship online were (more or less) creating an experience for the people gathered in-person in their buildings. Leaders would often (at some point) look into the camera and say, "And if you're worshiping with us online, we're glad you've joined us." They'd then look back at the people gathered in-person and continue on with a worship experience designed as a physical gathering. 

This meant that the home audience were observers of what was happening in real time on-site. They could watch, but not truly participate. This model (arguably) worked because - at the time - we knew nothing different. 

In March 2020, when congregations ended in-person worship and went online (many for the first time) the methodology for streaming worship completely shifted paradigms. Everything was about the home audience. There was no one in the room, and the people at home could feel that shift. They knew they were being talked to directly.

Now we face one of the most critical moves in the next iteration of the online worship experience. As we move back into our buildings, we mustn't return to making people at home observers after talking directly to them for so long. They'll feel that too. 
We also can't take an approach where we treat the in-person crowd as the studio audience, providing the laugh or clap track, for the people watching at home. Neither of these audiences should feel secondary. 
If we fail to think about how to create a BOTH/AND scenario as we go back to in-person worship, we will lose so much of what we've gained in these last seven plus months.

Join us for Both/And: Maximizing Hybrid Worship Experiences For Online and In-Person Audiences

This 3- hour workshop will delve into strategies for how to create powerful transformative worship where no one feels like they’re an afterthought. 
It will explore:

• Re-imagining worship for both/and
• How to create interactive both/and experiences
• Bringing at home and in-person audiences together in real time
• Alternative opportunities for online audiences watching in-person livestreams
• Repurposing in-person worship for online audiences
• Strategies for adapting practices for both/and
• Avoiding letting your groove becoming a rut
• And more

Registration coming soon!
Responding to COVID-19
Virginia is currently under a 10-person limit in response to the increase in COVID-19 case. This limit applies to any mission and ministry programs or other activities, limiting them to 10 or less. It does not apply to worship services.
Read the most current Technical Assistance Manuel, updated November 9, 2020. Click here to read.  Learn more about returning to church here.

All questions regarding reopening should be directed to DS Wayne Snead at elizabethriverds@vaumc.org.

 

2021


February 21, 4 PM:           Virtual District Board of Mission Annual Meeting 
                                           Click here to register.

March 27, 9 am-Noon:      Ministry in a Digital Age Webinar
                                            Click here to register.

April 24, 9 am-Noon:         Both/And Webinar 
Read the latest edition of the Virginia Conference's e-Advocate here.

DS Wayne Snead is the speaker for the next Conference United Methodist Men Love, Learn, and Lead Webinar


This webinar on Personal Prayer will be held Tuesday, February 16, 2021 at 6:30 PM.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89824607164

Meeting ID: 898 2460 7164


Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer as a model for prayer. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 
There are prayers of adoration, prayers of intercession, breath prayers, lectionary prayers, and corporate prayers. Much has been shared regarding different types and ways to pray. 

Is prayer a part of your daily life? Is prayer a part of your devotional time with God? Please plan to join us as Rev. Wayne Snead, District Superintendent of the Elizabeth River District, leads a discussion on personal prayer.

The Virginia Conference UMM is sponsoring a Zoom forum on Racism March 16 at 6:30 p.m. that will be moderated by Kissell.  

 

Guest speakers will include

The Rev. Reason Chandler, Jackson St. UMC, Lynchburg;

The Rev. Brenda Laws, Greenbackville Charge, New Church 

The Rev. Larry Jent, Grace UMC (Hartwood), Fredericksburg

The Rev. Jeff Mickle, Alexandria District Superintendent

 

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89824607164      
Meeting ID: 898 2460 7164 

 

Fellowships across the Commonwealth are also using a Virginia Conference video and curriculum series on Race Relations to explore the injustices of systemic, institutional racism available at https://vaumc.org/racerelationsvideos/

Lots of new job openings at churches on the Elizabeth River District have been listed on the website.  Click here to see the list. 
If you have placed a job opening and it is no longer needed, please email Denise Smith at elizabethriverdistrict@vaumc.org and ask for it to be removed. 
LOCAL CHURCH NEWS
The deadline for submissions to the e-Newsletter is every Thursday at 5pm. Email your information about your events and special programming to Denise Smith at  elizabethriverdistrict@vaumc.org  (Flyers in PDF or JPEG are preferred.)
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