What’s a “Remote Parishioner?”
During COVID, when we couldn’t worship together in person, our Music Director decided to pull together online worship using YouTube. We discovered that it was more popular than we had expected. Also we found that a lot of people we didn’t know seemed to be watching.
We wondered why. Who were these extra “views” that showed up each week?
We gradually discovered that some were referred by friends who were regular parishioners. Some were former parishioners who hadn’t found a church they liked in their new geography. Some were homebound. Some were in care institutions. Some were just curious — notable in this group were those who raced or spectated at Lime Rock Park and were curious about the little church across the street.
The reasons they visited us were many.
We realized that we, Trinity Lime Rock, had become their temporary — or permanent — church home. So we began to focus on how we could serve this diverse group of people.
We knew that we needed to continue to provide online worship. We decided that a livestream was the best overall approach, and we learned that there was a vendor who could help us.
–Every Sunday morning, at 10:30 AM, you can watch our livestream. The current link is always on the home page of this website. The service stays available for a day or two after Sunday. Usually, once Saturday rolls around, you’ll find a link on our home page to the bulletin (some call it the “order of service”) for that service.
–You’ll want to receive our weekly e-mail newsletter, the Trinity Update. It comes out on Wednesday afternoons (usually) and largely consists of news of the parish. HERE‘s where you can sign up. You can unsubscribe at any time.
–Lots of former parishioners tell us that they miss the coffee hours the most. This isn’t perfect yet, but we provide one online — yes, an online coffee hour — via Zoom every Sunday when the 10:30 AM service is over. Here the information you need:
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==Online Coffee Hour Zoom Logon== Trinity Lime Rock offers both an in-person and virtual coffee hour (via Zoom) most Sundays. Join our next virtual coffee hour on Sunday Meeting ID: 871 0295 7765 Join Zoom Meeting |
—Adult education is usually online these days. We’re in the process of searching for new permanent clergy, so we’re not currently offering adult education programs, but Zoom in the past has let us connect with remote parishioners. We’ll provide information and a link when we offer new programs.
—Our Vestry recognizes our remote parishioners — in fact, two vestry members live elsewhere. Thanks to Zoom, they are actively included in Vestry activities.