The pandemic forced us out of our building and into a virtual worship. Certainly, many people long for the day we can return to in person worship. At the same time, God has opened our eyes to new possibilities. It’s tough to assess numbers for sure, but we believe we reach MORE people virtually than we ever did in person. They include those who are homebound, those who travel, and people who work (or play) on Sundays. We also know that even after we return to in person worship, there are many who will not feel safe in public spaces and so will choose not to attend in person worship. For all of those reasons our Church Council strongly feels Mill Plain will benefit by livestreaming our worship. In order to make that possible we need to purchase equipment, recruit and train new teams of volunteers, and purchase new licensing. We estimate this will cost $12,000. If you would like to contribute toward the purchase of the equipment, you can make a donation online (select the fund for Worship Beyond Our Building) or you can mail a check to the church noting “Worship Beyond Our Building” in the memo section. Thanks to those who have already contributed. We ask for your prayerful consideration of how you can be a part of this new ministry.
One of the people who has appreciated our virtual worship is John Herrick. John is a flight attendant based out of New York. He has Vancouver connections which is how he first discovered us, and now, wherever he is, he can worship with us.
John writes:
I feel that being able to worship online with Church services such as Zoom or Facebook means a lot to me because I can still have a connection to the Church no matter where I am. You can be anywhere and still feel that connection. In fact, I told my Aunt and Uncle in Wisconsin and my friend in New York City about the services and they now make it a point to watch every Sunday. Their churches do not offer any virtual services. They are very pleased with the services and I like hearing from them about how meaningful the services are. I also do not want to attend any in person services as I would feel extremely nervous. Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts on this. I definitely think we should continue to worship online. It will bring us closer together as a Church family
Sincerely,
John Herrick