Important Church Announcement:
Dear Riverview & Virgil church family and friends –
Yesterday, Bishop Ough sent a request to all churches in the Dakotas Conference asking that we move to online worship for the Advent and Christmas season. Both Church Councils met via Zoom last night to discuss the request and plan accordingly, and leaders from both churches approved the following plan:
The Riverview & Virgil UMC’s will move to online worship (no in-person) for the next two weeks and will reassess at that point. This means that we will be online only for Nov. 22 & 29, and the Church Councils will decide by Dec. 3 if we will return to our sanctuaries for worship in December. Rather than making a blanket decision for all of the Christmas season, our leaders have decided to take a step by step approach and to follow cues from our city and county officials, creating space to make decisions as our conditions change and fluctuate.
When we return to our sanctuaries, we will follow the city and county mask mandates, and we will follow recommended guidelines to the very best of our abilities. As always, we encourage those in high risk categories to remain safe at home, tuning into our virtual worship, which we will continually work to enhance.
On Sunday evenings during Advent (starting Nov. 29), I invite you all to come to the parking lot at Riverview at 6:00 pm for a special outdoor Advent Candle Lighting Service. We are creating a giant Advent candle display that will be the centerpiece of our service as we read scripture and liturgy and sing a couple of Christmas carols. You can choose to remain in your car, listening through your radio as we utilize our FM transmitter, or you can choose to gather outside around a couple of fire pits. I estimate that the candle-lighting service will last approximately 20 minutes each week. This will be in addition to our virtual worship service that will continue to be offered and posted on Sunday mornings, and we will live-stream this Sunday evening experience on our FaceBook pages as well.
We’ve got several other creative ideas percolating as we strive to make this Christmas season special in new ways.
Many blessings --
Pastor Teresa
Yesterday, Bishop Ough sent a request to all churches in the Dakotas Conference asking that we move to online worship for the Advent and Christmas season. Both Church Councils met via Zoom last night to discuss the request and plan accordingly, and leaders from both churches approved the following plan:
The Riverview & Virgil UMC’s will move to online worship (no in-person) for the next two weeks and will reassess at that point. This means that we will be online only for Nov. 22 & 29, and the Church Councils will decide by Dec. 3 if we will return to our sanctuaries for worship in December. Rather than making a blanket decision for all of the Christmas season, our leaders have decided to take a step by step approach and to follow cues from our city and county officials, creating space to make decisions as our conditions change and fluctuate.
When we return to our sanctuaries, we will follow the city and county mask mandates, and we will follow recommended guidelines to the very best of our abilities. As always, we encourage those in high risk categories to remain safe at home, tuning into our virtual worship, which we will continually work to enhance.
On Sunday evenings during Advent (starting Nov. 29), I invite you all to come to the parking lot at Riverview at 6:00 pm for a special outdoor Advent Candle Lighting Service. We are creating a giant Advent candle display that will be the centerpiece of our service as we read scripture and liturgy and sing a couple of Christmas carols. You can choose to remain in your car, listening through your radio as we utilize our FM transmitter, or you can choose to gather outside around a couple of fire pits. I estimate that the candle-lighting service will last approximately 20 minutes each week. This will be in addition to our virtual worship service that will continue to be offered and posted on Sunday mornings, and we will live-stream this Sunday evening experience on our FaceBook pages as well.
We’ve got several other creative ideas percolating as we strive to make this Christmas season special in new ways.
Many blessings --
Pastor Teresa
Worship with Us
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Virgil United Methodist Church Sunday Mornings @ 9:00 a.m. 201 Main St Virgil, SD 57379 |
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Riverview United Methodist Church Sunday Mornings @ 10:45 a.m. 1640 Simmons Ave SE Huron, SD 57350 |
Our current worship services are online only. Please stay home and stay safe.
Join Us Online Each week we pre-record the message and other worship elements for our online worshiping community.
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