(Still working to access online worship? Be sure to read this article and to give yourself extra time on Sunday to start your efforts.)
As many of you know, the coronavirus pandemic led us to make a quick leap into providing worship online. Our goal was to be as accessible as possible and to include opportunities for interaction. Now, after three worship services, we think we have found a stable method of broadcast that allows anyone with Internet access to view worship. If the Internet option doesn’t work for you, you can dial in by phone to listen to (but not view) the service.
We have learned a lot but still have much to learn. Thanks to everyone who has provided input and feedback. We share here a few of our lessons in hopes of improving your experience as well:
- To contribute comments during worship, you need to be logged into Facebook and viewing worship through the Facebook Live stream on our Facebook page. (If you do not have a Facebook account, you can still view the Facebook Live stream as well as the comments left by others. You will just not be able to add to the comments, and we won’t be able to see that you were viewing. And that’s okay—you can always text or email your comment to Pastor Heidi later.)
- We do not recommend using Facebook’s “Watch Party” option during live worship. Doing this sets up a private screening space through your own Facebook page available only to your Facebook friends. Any comments that are posted won’t include Pastor Heidi or others watching from McKinley’s Facebook page. Instead of using the “Watch Party” option, invite your friends using the “Share” option to post the link to worship for your Facebook friends to see.
- Live worship will also be available directly from McKinley’s website on the “Worship” page. This is an easy way to access the service if you aren’t experienced with Facebook. The live feed will be available sometime between 10:15 and 10:25 a.m. on Sunday. If you arrive early and the live feed has not started by 10:25, try reloading the web page (using your browser’s “refresh” option or using the back button to leave the page and then return to it). If that still doesn’t work, use the link on the page to go to the Facebook Live stream. If it is not there either, this means that we are having technical difficulties, and we will post updates as soon as we can to both the Facebook post and to the McKinley Worship page.
- What if you want to use Zoom? Because of security concerns, we will not be publicizing the Zoom URL for worship. We offer Zoom only for those needing an audio option or as a back-up if the Facebook Live option fails. The Zoom phone number and session ID will be posted on our Worship page on the Saturday before each live service. Don’t count on this phone number or ID to remain the same each week.
For more information and for additional tips and tricks for viewing worship, check out the Worship page on our website.