Hi Lisa! I have been “attending” my church remotely since March and it has been a great experience! At first they were using GoToMeeting as the platform, but a few months ago switched to Zoom in order to incorporate more music via prerecorded videos and other videos relevant to the service. The Zoom experience has been even better so we can experience both a prelude and postlude and anthems sung by our choir section leaders in quartets. Sometimes our music director has prerecorded music from some of our past choir concerts, and shows a video of spaces in our church, such as the stained glass windows (which restored last Spring and we have not yet been able to enjoy them in person!). Anyway, I’m in the choir, so the music is really important to me, especially since I’m unable to sing with them in person right now.
During the services people can either call in, view via a computer or smart phone (with their cameras on or off) and the chat feature is also utilized, which is also nice — in order to feel the connection with live people! There’s a virtual “coffee hour” for fellowship time after most weekly services. I don’t typically attend them, but I know some people who do.
Last week’s service is available here (scroll to bottom): https://www.chicagotemple.org/
Link to future services via Zoom: https://www.chicagotemple.org/worship/
Please let me know if you have any questions, or let me know if I can be of further help!
Rena
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