March 2020, Churches across the Dakotas closed their doors at the recommendation of the Bishop. Congregations found they were in uncharted territory tapping into creative ways to be the church but not be in the church building. This is the first article in a series sharing the ways congregations have navigated the year of the pandemic and found new ways to make disciples. 

The countdown screen for online worship at North Highland UMC. Photos by North Highland UMC.

“Two weeks before the pandemic hit, I had a volunteer with lots of technology skills walk through the doors of the church,” says Rev. Lou Whitmer, who serves North Highland United Methodist Church in Aberdeen, South Dakota. “God was at work.”

Online worship
Faced with the need to stop in-person worship, Rev. Whitmer turned to the two tools in front of her a smartphone and a volunteer with some technical skills.

“We had been thinking about upgrading our technology and doing some things. When COVID hit, we were forced to move,” says Whitmer. “The first Sunday was a crash course. We did Facebook Live using my smartphone. It was a little rough."

Two weeks later, the team of two—pastor and volunteer purchased a new webcam and laptop. That seemed to work, but there were still glitches. After meeting, North Highland decided to invest and upgrade equipment to a high-definition pan, tilt, zoom camera that was mounted, live-streaming software, connected to the soundboard.

“We needed to upgrade. One person suggested we should have made these purchases ages ago. If we had suggested the expenditure before COVID, there would not have been many attracted to the idea,” Pastor Lou says. “This was truly God working through us and showing up for  people to worship with their own congregation.”

Children’s and youth ministry

North Highland UMC youth gather food.

The congregation did more than worship online. They held small groups virtually, children and youth ministry through Zoom and outdoors. North Highland UMC has several members of the congregation who fit an older demographic, but several took the risk of learning a new way of doing things and stepping out of their comfort zone.

“We all learned to use Zoom fast,” says Pastor Lou. “The congregation values the children’s and youth ministry. We moved everything to Wednesdays and focused on growing the Wednesday night program.”

That meant leaving behind the idea of a traditional Sunday School program and thinking about unique ways for youth to engage with the members of the congregation and the community. The youth held a doorstop food drive. They partnered with another church in Aberdeen, South Dakota, that had a food pantry that needed food donations. A list of needed items was distributed to members of the congregations and the community. If someone had a donation, they were asked to contact North Highland. On two Wednesdays, youth gathered the donations, which were placed in bags on doorsteps.

“I was amazed at all of the donations and how hard the youth worked. We brought tubs of food to the food pantry. The donations were worth more than $1,000,” Whitmer says. “On Palm Sunday, we are partnering with the same church to have a “to go” breakfast, to raise funds for the food pantry.”

The Heifer Project is a focus of the children’s ministry. Each week a craft and Bible lessons focus on a different animal. This spring, the children will hold a craft sale, sell the crafts they make, and raise funds for the Heifer Project.

The Easter and Christmas Pageant still were held virtually. The technology volunteer used the new camera and software to make a video uploaded onto Vimeo and made available to everyone on the congregation’s website.

Mission outreach
“We have been pushing ourselves to think out-of-the box,” says Pastor Lou. “It is easy for us all to think that we have to do really big things, in big ways. But it is the little things that make a difference and that people have appreciated this past year.”

The curbside coat give away.

Each year North Highland UMC has held a coat drive for the community. This year was not an exception. To make things COVID safe, the congregation limited the coat recipients to children, took orders or requests, and scheduled appointments for people to drive through and pick up their coats.

“The mission committee had to answer questions like why we do the coat drive? Does the community need the coat drive? Do we feel called to do this mission project? The answer to all of these questions was, yes,” Whitmer says. “It was very successful and felt good.”

North Highland UMC’s mission committee started a new outreach during COVID, Lasagna Love. Lasagna Love is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that started at the beginning of the pandemic. Volunteers are making and delivering meals to families in the neighborhood who were struggling, whether that struggle was financial, emotional, or simply feeling overwhelmed. Lasagna Love has since grown into a national movement.

Another outreach for North Highland UMC is giving away masks. Pastor Lou’s sister has been sewing a huge amount of masks. She sends them to the church in Aberdeen to give away. Volunteers made tags for each mask that say, “We love our neighbors, North Highland UMC.” When the masks are ready, a notice is posted on Facebook.

“Sometimes, we cannot keep up with the requests for masks. One lady posted on Facebook, ‘This is the best church. They gave my kids new coats and now masks.’ It made us all feel really good,” says Whitmer.

Lessons learned
Take risks—This past year has created North Highland’s opportunity to move in ways they would have never imagined. To take risks adding technology to worship online, do children’s and youth ministry virtually, and bring new life to ministry. 

Pastor Lou says, “It is easy to do what you have always done. It is much harder to take risks. When we returned to doing in-person worship, people commented, ‘we are still going to do worship online, right.’”

Use what is in front of you—When faced with the challenge of closing the church, Pastor Lou turned to the two resources God had placed in her presence, her smartphone, and volunteer with technology skills. 

Small things matter—We all tend to think only big things matter. But the small things have made a difference for North Highland UMC, the community of Aberdeen, South Dakota, and beyond. “We are a smaller congregation with a big heart,” says Pastor Lou. “We can make a difference. 

North Highland UMC is not unlike many congregations throughout the Dakotas Conference who have made an impact and continue making disciples amid the pandemic. 

“We have come a long way,” says Whitmer. “It is easy to compare yourself to others and think you are not making a difference. But there is still a lot of life, new things we can do on a smaller scale that fit.”