Repurposing and Refocusing Ministry in a Pandemic
For the first time in 18 years, Sam Perkins wasn’t able to lead a mission trip this past summer. As the Pastor of Spiritual Formation, over family and youth ministry, at Westminster Presbyterian in Greensboro, NC, Sam shares a little about how they’ve been finding a path forward in a season of COVID.
Check out the full interview above, but here are a few key ideas that resonated from Sam’s conversation:
Repurpose to save resources and instill hope in the future.
The work we’ve done for summer 2020 isn’t waisted, the event dates are just postponed. Repurposing all the heavy lifting of the planning for next summer will give you a head start so that you can focus your energy more on resetting expectations and nurturing hope in your students and families.
Relational ministry, even in the midst of COVID, still begins with being aware.
Relational ministry is always the goal, but how we achieve that in a pandemic has to change. Our previous methods may not be able to get us as physically close to some students and families in this season, but we can still focus our attention on being aware of what they need, where they need it, and how we can support.
Give ourselves permission to be affected by this.
Just because we’re the spokespeople for the church, that doesn’t mean we can ignore how we this pandemic has impacted our own personal lives and our families. If we’re not spending time caring for ourselves, we can’t move forward or have the creative energy we need to do good ministry in this season.
As you’re imagining these ideas fleshed out in your own ministry, here’s how we can support you along the way…
You have so many questions, concerns, and unique pressures in this season. YW Extended Care was created so that you have help and support through it all.