I remember someone saying in his "sitting down" address at Synod about forty
years ago that the biggest change he had experienced in his ministry was that
when he started in Circuit the minister had a phone but few of the members did.
Now everybody had a phone, so the minister was much more readily available to
everyone. What a technological revolution has happened since then! I was
persuaded to get a mobile phone in the years prior to my own "sitting down",
but only my wife had the number and I carried it solely for emergencies and to
let her know when I would be late home. I did not really discover the benefits
of texting until I found myself in hospital and was able to send and receive
messages at all times of the day.
Lockdown would have been a very different experience without the ability to
phone and text family and friends and share photographs. Zoom has enabled
congregations to stay in active fellowship with one another in spite of not
being able to meet physically. I hope we are able to keep it going one way or
another after the Covid crisis has passed, as a means of enabling housebound
people to continue to participate in worship and other meetings. With the
passing years, older people are becoming much more computer-savvy, and the Zoom
service could be a great blessing to those who cannot get out to church.
Every blessing for your first Zoom service, Ian. Remember to keep looking at
the camera, so your "congregation" feel you're talking to them and not to your
desk!
John
On 15 January 2021 at 20:38 Ian Wales <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Thanks John B,
And to think that when we left college we did not even have machines that
answered the phone. When I worked for the Hospital Board in the NE before I
moved to Plymouth to candidate we had a computer room and the machine would
fill a small chapel. I probably have more power on my desk than there was
in that room. Any way say one for me as I am doing my first zoom service on
Sunday and preaching for the first time since 1/3/2020.
Blessings all,
Ian W
