Online Services
Our Circuit Team have been working hard to provide ways in which we can share in Worship and Fellowship through technology during the coronavirus crisis.
Many of our Circuit Church buildings are closed for Worship, but we remain Open Online and our community is growing.
We had our first experiment with Live-Streaming the 10:30am Pentecost Sunday Service from Castle. It is now available on Castle’s YouTube Channel here, or you can access the service directly here. To join future services live from home, please Subscribe to that channel (and click the Notification Bell icon) to be notified when this service is about to go live. Contact someone from our technical team if you need more help with this.
The YouTube channel for Colchester Methodists continues to have videos uploaded regularly. If you follow this link, it will take you there: https://www.youtube.com/ColchesterMethodists
Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the You Tube channel. It is FREE.
Also click on the NOTIFICATION BELL ICON, then choose “all” as an option to receive an email notification / link each time a new video is uploaded. You can unsubscribe at any time, by clicking on the Subscribe button a second time.
We will continue to upload content to YouTube every Sunday until all of our churches have resumed in-person worship. We will then review what online activities should continue, and your comments would be welcome.
When you leave a church service would you usually shake the hand of the Minister and thank him for the service? If so, please encourage our ministers and the team, by clicking on the Thumbs Up / LIKE icon for the video. This also helps our videos to be promoted to others, and spreads the word of God.
You can also leave a brief message in the comments below each video, but PLEASE don’t forget that literally EVERYONE worldwide can see this, so don’t make any personal comments, or refer to people in a way that risks their privacy in any way.
What else is available Online from our Circuit?
For our Young People:-
We are trying to provide material suitable for the children in the Circuit, with online and downloadable activities. There is an accompanying pack for each talk which can be made available by contacting thearkhighwoods@gmail.com
Click on this link to go straight to our Playlists and choose Young Sunday https://www.youtube.com/ColchesterMethodists/playlists
On Facebook:-
Virtual worship at Wimpole Road is on Facebook live on Sundays at 11.00 am, to join click on https://www.facebook.com/Wimpole-Road-Methodist-Church-Colchester-310296022510387
What about The UK Methodist Church?
This link to The Methodist Church Website provides information about live-streamed services, and has downloadable service sheets for worship-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic. This includes resources for personal prayer and Bible Study.
Some other Live-streamed services:-
Wesley’s Chapel in London which will be available at: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUAUqhmhevz5sqhh72LIMxA Service times are Wednesday 12:45; Thursday 12:45; Sunday 9:45 and 11:00.
Swan Bank Methodist Church in Burslem will also live-stream worship on Sunday at 10:30 the service will be available at www.youtube.com/user/SwanBank and www.facebook.com/swanbank/
Birmingham Methodist District at 10:30 there is a service at https://www.facebook.com/Birminghammethodistdistrict/
Hong Kong International Methodist Church https://www.michk.com the 11.00 am service in English will be live streamed at 3am our time, but should also be available by 11am for us to watch.
Sthie (‘At home’)
To join in a very different worship experience, try Sthie (‘At home’) from the Isle of Man (led by Andy Fishburne whose videos have been used for some of our Bible Study sessions). Join in live on Sundays by joining a Facebook group. For details see www.andyfishburne.com/2020/03/15/sthie-at-home-online-worship/
You can watch previous live-streamed videos at www.youtube.com/andyfishburne
…And for Young Children:-
There is a digital Sunday school at https://disorganisedsundayschoolblog.com/digital-sunday-school
There is a Messy Church with Crafts and Stories for little ones on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/messychurchknaresborough/
The Little Worship Company are “offering a range of co-viewing products designed to inspire and delight children aged 0 to 7 years with a knowledge of God. For grown-ups, finding the right resources that will equip children on this important journey and build their relationship with God can be challenging. The beautifully crafted Little Worship Company products are designed to support grown-ups with a range of inspiring and entertaining media, built on a solid Bible curriculum”. You can find out more at https://littleworshipcompany.com/
Public Broadcasting:-
BBC1 Songs of Praise (usually at 13:15): You can find out more here.
Or view previous programmes here.
BBC Radio 4 Sunday Worship (usually at 08:10): More information here.
Your local Methodist Church website will give more details about groups and activities which are taking place, and are likely to include Services, Meetings or Coffee Mornings on Zoom. (Use links from the Menu to access these Church pages directly).
If you are unfamiliar with Zoom, this link will take you to information from The Ark’s webpage which is very helpful.
Audio CD’s, and now DVD’s, are being made available to anyone unable to view the weekly online Service, and other material. If you know of someone who would benefit from this please let one of our Ministers or pastoral leaders know.
A reminder from our Church Treasurers
While our buildings remain closed for activities, there are still regular bills to be paid. If you are part of an envelope giving scheme, or would usually set aside cash to give as an offering in church each week, could you consider alternative forms of giving? Perhaps online banking, or contributing by cheque or standing order? Your local Church Treasurer would love to hear from you about this.
For more information about activities,
or to tell us about your news from around the circuit
for inclusion next time,
please contact
colchester.methodists@gmail.com
Be sure to keep yourselves safe and well.
Let someone know if you are struggling,
if you need a chat, or just some shopping.
Do contact your pastoral leader,
or send someone an email:
you may be in isolation, but you are not alone.