Even when our building is closed, our ministry continues!

We have not been offering in-person worship services or holding regular office hours during this Covid-19 (coronavirus) quarantine period. However, even when we can’t meet like we used to, we are still providing essential spiritual experiences through the miracles of modern technology! This page lists the many opportunities available to you and will be updated periodically as we develop new ways to connect.

Virtual Worship

On Sunday mornings at 8:30am (traditional music) and 10:45am (contemporary music), we will live-stream a worship service on our YouTube channel. Go to our YouTube channel at the correct time, and you should see it at the top of the list.

• Although these will go out live at the normal worship times, they will also be archived on YouTube for a few hours, so you can watch them later in the day, if you wish.
• Holy Communion will be served, so get your supplies ready!  Pastor Tyler recommends a cracker (or similar staple food product) and some kind of wine or juice (or other festive drink).
• Set up your home worship space with a cross, candle, plant, and dish of water. Make it as fancy as you like!
• Want to familiarize yourself with the contemporary songs? Click here for a playlist that contains the music we’re singing at the contemporary worship services, so you can listen to them during the week and be ready to belt them out while watching the live-stream!

Note: If you are having trouble viewing our YouTube live-stream worship services, we have a low-tech option for you. You can call in from any telephone and listen to the service as it happens! • For the Sunday 8:30am service, call 1-312-626-6799. When it asks for your meeting ID, enter 841 6597 2335 and press #. When it asks for your participant ID, just press #. If it asks for a password, enter 12012 and press #. • For the Sunday 10:45am service, call 1-312-626-6799. When it asks for your meeting ID, enter 875 7308 8960 and press #. When it asks for your participant ID, just press #. If it asks for a password, enter 12012 and press #.

Social Activities throughout the week on Zoom

We miss you almost as much as you miss each other! Here are some opportunities to “hang out” virtually with your Mt Zion family. (Click on each link to jump to the Zoom meeting, then enter the password shown.)

• Adult forum on Sundays at 9:40am, between the worship services (meeting ID 868 1235 8587, passcode 12012)
• Book Club on the 4th Monday at 7pm (meeting ID 862-1576-4558, password 12012)
• Writer’s Circle on 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at 6pm (meeting ID 829-2787-8248, password 12012)
• Brown Bag Bible Study on Wednesdays at noon (meeting ID 849-2489-7122, password 12012)
• Prayer Warriors on Wednesdays at 1pm (meeting ID 849-2489-7122, password 12012)
• Beer & Bible, Wine & the Word happy hour on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays at 5pm (meeting ID 835-6456-0076, password 12012)
• Women of Heart on Saturdays at 8:30am (meeting ID 849-6940-2756, password 12012)
• Or for a printable Zoom listing of all of our meetings, click here

12:12 Prayer

Several days a week, Pastor Tyler shares a 12-minute prayer service at 12:12pm on his personal Facebook page. This is interactive, so you can type your prayer requests into the comments, and Pastor Tyler will include them in his prayers.  (If you watch the archived videos later, you can still type comments, but Pastor won’t see them until the next day.)

Don’t know how to use Zoom?

• If you want to use your mobile device, go to your app store, install “ZOOM Cloud Meetings” from your app store, start it up, and enter the 9-or-11-digit meeting ID, which you can find above or in this week’s Grace Notes. When prompted, enter the 5-or-6-digit password.  (Zoom is free, and you can join someone else’s meeting without creating an account.)
• If you’re more comfortable with computers, click here: https://zoom.us.  It will prompt you to download and install an app, or you can just join from your browser. The links above have the meeting ID embedded, so you just have to enter the 5-or-6-digit password when prompted.
• If you’d rather just use a telephone, call 1-312-626-6799. When it asks for your meeting ID, enter the 9-or-11-digit number from the Grace Notes and press #. Then when it asks for your participant ID, just press #. Then when it asks for the password, enter the 5-or-6-digit number from the Grace Notes and press #. (You won’t be able to see anybody, but you can hear everything, and press *6 when you want to talk.)
• Note:  The meeting ID number may change from week-to-week, so check your email for the latest link from the Grace Notes.  (Not getting emails?  Contact Jess to get added to the email list!)

Committee Meetings, Staff Meetings, etc

The day-to-day work of the church is still very much needed, so all meetings will continue on the regular cycle, but they will use Zoom.  Watch for an email from your committee chair with the link (meeting ID) for your meeting.  Committee chairs, contact Jess or Pastor Tyler to set up a Zoom meeting.

Offerings and Donations

These are difficult times, and there is need in the community, so our mission is more important than ever, and your support is essential to keeping our ministries going.  However, we understand that many people have lost their jobs or are experiencing other financial hardships, so if you are one of those people, don’t feel obligated to keep up with your regular giving.  On the other hand, if you are fortunate enough to still have a regular paycheck or are blessed with the means to do so, please maintain or increase your offerings:

• If you are already using Simply Giving to transfer funds electronically on a weekly or monthly basis, thank you!  This method of giving is very helpful to our office staff, because they can look ahead in the system to see the amount of donations that will be coming in the near future, and that allows them to plan when they can write big checks for mortgage, paychecks, etc.
• If you usually put an offering envelope in the plate when it comes around on Sunday, please consider mailing your check to the church office.  Better yet, use our convenient and safe online donation system!  You can make a one-time donation with your credit card, and you don’t need to set up an account or anything.  Just go to our Donation page, click the Donate button, and follow the on-screen instructions for a one-time donation.
• Don’t forget about Mission of the Month!  This extra once-a-month donation goes directly to those with the most need.

Do you have questions?

Of course you do!  This is difficult experience for all of us, and we’re figuring it out together.  If we’ve missed something in this list, or if the instructions for any of the technology are unclear, contact Pastor Tyler, Jess, or Douglas for help.