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Congregation and Pastoral Resources During Cornavirus Pandemic

In this time of pandemic preparedness and response, using different methods of outreach and forming community provides support and care to our congregations. Below are additional resources that might be useful during this time.

Moravian Ideas and Resources

  • Encourage members to mail their tithes and offerings to the church office or use an online giving service, should that be an option.
  • Send emails on a daily or weekly basis with your own message referencing the Bible, the Moravian Daily Texts, and/or the Moravian Book of Worship.
  • Share links to other online resources, such as inspirational devotions like the Upper Room Daily Devotional or d365.
  • Read and reflect on the Weekly Moravian Message that appears on Moravian Church Sunday bulletins, which are also available online each Sunday.
  • Visit Daily Prayers for Moravians, a weekly prayer liturgy written by Bishop Chris Giesler.
  • The Interprovincial Board of Communication has posted liturgies from the Moravian Book of Worship for possible use in alternative worship. These are for use by Moravian congregations and members. Additional resources will be added as we can make them available.
  • Encourage people to listen to the Moravian Church Without Walls podcast, which provides a daily audio reflection on the Moravian Daily Texts. Moravian Church Without Walls has also developed a worship service that will be shared via Zoom every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. EDT.  You can join this service here.
  • Encourage families to subscribe to BCM’s Loving Hearts United weekly family devotional. You’ll be able to find more resources for families (specific to the COVID-19 crisis) on BCM’s website soon.

Other Articles and Resources

  • COVID-19: 100 Ideas for Ministers and Ministry Leaders
    • A lot of us are wondering how church will be the same (or different) now that we’re in the middle of a lot of changes related to COVID-19. I think this is a time for us, as church leaders, to show our creativity. I think that churches and ministry people are endlessly creative, and I wanted to jump start some of that creativity. Here are 100 things to think about as you go about leading your congregations. Many of these ideas are things I’ve seen people post about on twitter or talk about in Facebook groups.
  • How Should Christian Leaders Respond to a Pandemic?
    • What is the church’s role during the global coronavirus outbreak? New offerings and resources from the Faith & Leadership archives can help in these difficult times, including articles about pastoral care, church finances, funeral guidelines, etc.
  • Resources for Christian Leaders During the Coronavirus Pandemic
    • Faith and Leadership will be updating this list of information from government and media sources at least three times a week to offer guidance to pastors and other Christian leaders struggling to respond to the pandemic of COVID-19.
  • ChurchPulse Weekly Podcast
    • How’s your church going to lead through crisis? The ChurchPulse Weekly podcast gives you unprecedented insights into how church leaders are navigating crisis, and a new set of digital tools to stay connected in real-time to the people in your church. Weekly results from the ChurchPulse Leader Check-in are delivered live in the podcast hosted by leadership author and podcaster, Carey Nieuwhof, and Barna President, David Kinnaman. Each episode, Carey and David bring fresh updates, insights and interview other leading voices in church and ministry innovation.
  • Center for Creative Leadership’s Leadership Skills in an Uncertain World
    • The Center has many resources for leaders. While a secular consulting groups, their website is full of excellent freebies, webinars, and articles about leadership in a variety of circumstances.

Ecumenical Partners and Organizations

Our ecumenical partners and other national organizations are providing a wide variety of resources and links on their websites. Here are a few to peruse for creative ministry ideas:

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