Title

Barrington Presbyterian Church Navigating the Pandemic

Authors

Katayoun Alidadi, Bryant UniversityFollow
Pastor Patrick Notley, Bryant University

Document Type

Other

Comments

Barrington Presbyterian Church a small and vibrant church of about a hundred members, responded to the restr­ictions of the pandemic by adopting a 'hybrid' model of religious worship. This means that congregants can attend worship in person or via Zoom, and in addition technology is leveraged towards an interactive model. This enables the pastor, in-person and virtual worshippers to interact during worship, thereby creating a hybrid community.

Abstract

Pastor Patrick Notley says he wouldn't wish this on anybody. But there have been some good opportunities within this. It has been a year of learning.

We were here on a Sunday and everything had exploded in the news and it became a consensus; we have to figure this out. So we took a week off, and then the week after we started to have Zoom wor­ ship. Initially it was paired down: gathering, prayer, reading scripture, sermon. We didn't have Communion because we hadn't figured that part out. During the next few weeks, we got a YouTube license and started finding hymns that had been prerecorded. There is so much public access out there ... We got a bit playful with the music. Are you familiar with Shape note singing?