“Since early in the pandemic (the church closed on April 27 this year) some of the people here (Respect, Tongala) have been gathering around a computer to watch the service,” Reverend Brian Morgan said.
“We usually conduct our services from our different churches and Zoom them to other churches in the cluster, and to private homes, so we decided to bring the church service, face-to-face to the people at Respect Tongala and Zoom from here,” he said.
Uniting Church worshipper and resident in the facility, Moira Pankhurst, has been co-ordinating the Zoom worship gatherings at Respect Tongala, initially in her room and then — as numbers increased — in a visitors’ room.
On Sunday, July 24 Reverend Brian and his support crew conducted their service, in the flesh, from the chapel of the home.
Late last week Reverend Brian and his Lockington technical expert Graeme Haines, landed at the home to set up the equipment. On Sunday, a team of members from the cluster gathered at Respect Tongala, to worship with the residents.
The service was live streamed to all the Northern Rivers Cluster congregations, which takes in four locations through the region, and many homes.
For the residents of Respect Tongala who haven’t been able to attend church with other people for some time, it was a wonderful experience.
Reverend Brian said prior to the church at Tongala closing its doors, the location hosted a service on the fourth Sunday of every month, which was then offered to the Dingee congregation. Because of a recent change in operating conditions at the Dingee church, Reverend Brian has been able to offer the Sunday to the Respect Tongala location.
Reverend Brian said, “this gathering of Christian spirits involved bringing in a large monitor and camera, along with microphone and a computer”.
“We even had live music, on the Facility piano, with our organist Meryl Brown, attending the facility for the service. She is from Koyuga,.”
Respect manager Helene Anderson said church was an important part of the week for many residents and being able to offer them the opportunity to attend a church service “in house” was terrific.
The Uniting Church, along with the Anglican and Embrace churches, offer a brief Wednesday morning worship service to residents.
“I have learned very quickly not to book any events on a Wednesday morning — that is for church,” Ms Anderson said.
The timing is perfect for the home, which has recently had wi-fi fitted throughout the building.
Ms Anderson said it was “lovely’’ for the residents to have a face-to-face experience.
