The old-fashioned way
Since coronavirus and the lockdown it seems that we as the Kirk are becoming more and more an online, social media, Zoom and YouTube Church.
There is certainly nothing wrong with using and finding new ways of communication, mission and outreach as the Kirk, but the downside to this development seems to be that more and more church folk seem to get obsessed with all this and more and more get sucked in the hype and realm of cyber-space and virtual reality, and by doing so losing touch with real “in person” relationships, particularly with those church members who still prefer and hope to receive a personal card, letter, phone-call or – if by now hopefully possible – a personal visit.
And then there are those church members – in my congregation at least 50 members – who don’t have computers, etc and still prefer their landlines over mobile phones.
Every week I personally deliver copies of my intimations, sermons and prayers to those 50 members who otherwise would completely lose out on having any proper communication during all this time of coronavirus with their local church and their minister, since we as Woodside Parish Church won’t be able to open our church building for services and fellowship again until after the summer.
So, the new ways of communication are still not for everybody and in our haste and hype of becoming an online and YouTube Church we as the Kirk must not forget that there are still very committed, faithful, loyal and long standing members out there who need and also still want to be reached in the good oldfashioned way of personal contact, and they rightly deserve it.
Markus Auffermann (Rev), Aberdeen: Woodside
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