Sundays Online

Neil Fitzpatrick   -   May 26, 2020

Sundays are very different compared to what they used to be.

Until mid-March I was part of 3 (and sometimes 4) church gatherings each Sunday. There was lots of wonderful time together with brothers and sisters in Christ. Hopefully one day soon we’ll be able meet together like that again.

Meanwhile we can thank God for the technology that is keeping most of us connected. Here’s a snapshot of my church life last Sunday:

  1. Sandra and I watched the weekly encouragement video together. We prefer using the YouTube channel as we can start a bit before 10am, and it casts to our TV. While that’s playing, I also host our 10am online church. (Most weeks the main Youtube encouragement video has 400+ views!)
  2. At 11:15am Sandra and I retreat to our desks to share in a Virtual Morning Tea on Zoom. It is so good to be able to have a chat and pray with people we know and love.
  3. At 4pm I had the privilege of visiting the Youth Zoom meeting. When I was speaking there were 91 devices connected – all with their cameras turned off (for safe ministry). Some devices had groups of people together. After some time in a large meeting room, they divide into Bible study groups and switch their cameras on. It is so encouraging to see so many youth meeting together with their leaders around God’s word! (They also do it on Friday nights).
  4. At 6pm I was back hosting online church – this time for Evening Church Live. Ben Williams (our JMAP apprentice) produces this young adult version of our weekly video. Each week around 60-70 devices connect, many with more than one person watching. On Sunday our student minister, Peter Blake, led church on location from Cronulla, and we heard a great interview with 3 university students who’d just been to a Christian conference.

I warmly encourage everyone reading this to make a priority of feeding themselves spiritually each weekend.

Yes Sundays are very different. It’s not as good as being together physically, but by God’s grace we are still being nourished by God’s word and Christian fellowship.

Neil