Worshippers come to the parking lot for worship at Spearfish UMC. Photos courtesy of Spearfish UMC.

Since last spring Rev. Scott McKirdy has been preaching from the church’s west steps while people paricipate from cars in the parking lot or sitting at chairs in the Healing Garden. With temperatures reaching below zero in the Dakotas recently, McKirdy is moving indoors. 

“Our council voted to have in-person worship, but we will continue broadcasting the audio to the parking lot,” says Pastor Scott, who serves at the United Methodist Church in Spearfish, South Dakota.

Parking lot worship works in tandem with Sunday morning worship opportunities at Spearfish UMC. At the same times that in-person worship is happening in the sanctuary, you can stay out in your car in the church parking lot and tune into 90.5 FM on your car radio.  Parking lot worshippers can view hymns at a link on Spearfish UMC's website. 

Additionally, when the weather allows, during the two Sunday morning services, a speaker will be playing the service into Spearfish UMC’s Healing Garden.  

The setup for worship from the Healing Garden at Spearfish UMC.

“We set up an outdoor option in the prayer garden. After experimenting with various ways of broadcasting sound from inside the church to the garden, we purchased a good ‘shop’ radio that picked up the 90.5 channel and simplified setup,” says Rod Gannett, a member of Spearfish UMC. “Garden worship participants have become a lively community of mostly older adults, with some younger people, along with a few dogs. Passersby sometimes stop to say ‘hello’ and listen for a while.”

Both drive-in and garden worship developed as creative and positive solutions for gathering during the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue permanently. Other worship options at Spearfish include online worship, Blue Jean’s worship, The Gathering worship service, and Sanctuary worship. 

Each week online service is recorded and posted for people to view on YouTube, Spearfish UMC’s website, and the congregation’s Facebook page. Some of the worshop service intentional elements include a shorter service, intentional invitations to connect faith with everyday life, prayers for online worshippers, and having a “set” or visual camera view that is inviting for viewers. For example, the worship for February 6 and 7, Superbowl weekend, had a song and actions titled, “Dropkick Me Jesus.”

During Superbowl weekend, online worship included a song with motions titled, "Dropkick for Jesus."

“We intentionally focus the online service for those people who may never come to our church building. We also recognize that some of our members will continue to watch online or will worship periodically online,” McKirdy says. “But we recognize online worship as a permanent part of who we are as a worshipping community.”

Blue Jean worship, happening each Saturday at 5:30 p.m., is a casual atmosphere, with a blend of many different styles of music. “We ask people to come as they are, in jeans or comfy clothes,” says Pastor Scott. “It is an intimate setting, with smaller numbers, a time for people to experience warm fellowship.”

If you are looking for a more modern or contemporary worship, Spearfish offers The Gathering at 8:15 a.m. on Sunday each week. A praise team leads contemporary music, followed by a children’s message. After the children’s message, the children are invited to go upstairs for “children’s church,” a particular time explicitly designed for them. 

Each week at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, you will find more traditional worship at Spearfish UMC. This service is rich in the historical traditions of the United Methodist Church. You will discover conventional hymns with organ accompaniment. 

Rev. Scott McKirdy leads worship from the west entrance of Spearfish UMC.

Spearfish UMC is part of the Digital Campus Initiative, recently launched by the Dakotas-Minnesota Area. The congregation has hired a technology director, Kevin Nakajima, to lead an effort to improve the quality of engagement and connection of the online worshipping community.

“We want to take our online worship to the next level, making it interactive,” says Pastor Scott. “We want to make it more than just viewing worship. We want to make it an online congregation.” 

Resources:
Digital Campus Initiative—view training resources 
Both / And webinar about reimagining worship with Jason Moore
Follow up session on Both / And,  February 23 at 8 a.m. moutain time, 9 a.m. central time details here