Dear GNJ Clergy and Lay Leadership,
Thank you for your leadership, innovative ideas and flexibility. I am proud of all you are doing to share the Good News of Jesus Christ as we work together to stamp out the virus. I briefly want to share with you three new resources for congregations.
- Online worship. We are happy to announce that Lan Wilson and I will be leading a live online worship service, this Sunday, March 22, at 9:00 a.m. for churches that are unable to broadcast online worship at this time. The worship will include a children’s message early in the service for young worshipers. This is not a resource for churches who are already live streaming. Do not to share this with your congregation if you already have an online presence on the weekend. If your church is not holding online worship, you may forward this link to the GNJ You Tube channel to your congregation and invite them to participate. To join, ask your congregation to click the link at 8:55 a.m. on Sunday morning to connect them to the worship experience. We offer this opportunity as we continue to assist congregations to develop their own online worship.
- Online giving for your congregation. We have an online giving resource that will receive contributions directed for your congregation. When we receive contributions for your church, we will send you an accounting that includes the person’s name and address and amount. Gifts received through our online portal will be sent weekly to congregations. If this is a resource that will be helpful to your congregation during this challenging season, you may forward and share this with your congregation. The link for online give is https://www.gnjumc.org/onlinegiving/.
- Extending Miracles Everywhere. We are extending the Miracles Everywhere campaign to include emergency support for people in need during this crisis or for churches that develop innovative ministries during this challenging season. People may continue to donate for this or any of the other areas of the Miracles Everywhere campaign by selecting this link. The coronavirus funds will be administered through our A Future With Hope ministry that did an outstanding job during Superstorm Sandy and has received recognition from Guidestar for its effective and transparent stewardship of your resources. 100% of the funds will be used to assist those in need. None will be kept for GNJ administration.
We are continually adding to and updating our resources for your ministry at this time. Find out about these resources here.
With God’s help and working together we will come through this awful virus and come back strong, healthy and recommitted to our mission. Thank you for all you are doing.
Keep the faith!
John
John Schol, Bishop
United Methodists of Greater New Jersey