Monmouth College and two churches have joined forces to offer a virtual church service to the community. It was available last Sunday, and will be again this Sunday (3/29) on the college's YouTube channel.
The Reverend Teri Ott, Dean of the Chapel at the college, says the pastors communicate online and decide on music, the liturgy, and who will preach. Then they gather in person on Friday afternoon to record it at Faith United Presbyterian Church in Monmouth.
But they only planned for two Sundays so far.
"And then we're all going to do a little re-assessing with our different churches and communities to see if we'll continue in this format or a different format."
There were about 200 views of the first virtual service last Sunday, but each view could have included more than one person.
"It's just a real note of hope for what we can do when we come together. So it's brought me a lot of joy."
Ott says the pastors will talk next week and decide what to do next, whether together or separately.
In addition to the college, and Faith United Presbyterian Church in Monmouth, the third participant is Sugar Tree Grove United Presbyterian Church in rural Warren County.