Covid-19 – IT's For Ministry – IT, Leadership and Change in Ministry

You’ll have heard the one that asks, “How many Presbyterians does it take to change a light bulb?”

“Change! Change! Really, is there something wrong with the old one!”

What if we flip it and ask, “How many light bulbs does it take to change the church?” Light bulbs are a metaphor for ideas… and I’ve heard countless ideas over the years, I’ve had countless ideas, and shared them… only for them all to be kicked into the long grass (I rather like metaphors!)

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a ‘forcing function’¹ – an unexpected event that accelerated change in expected ways. It has been a catalyst to some of the change that we knew was needed, but resistance to change has maintained the status quo..

Why change? Does the church need to change? Yes, not because eternal truths change, but because the context and culture around changes. We must change to keep up with and remain relevant in changing times…

Some may say, “If it ain’t broke, dont fix it”, but what if it’s working perfectly as it did a generation ago, but fails to interact with current context and practice.

How many light bulbs does it take to change the church..?

See https://medium.com/@johnpcutler/forcing-functions-and-continuous-improvement-7d06e4702da0 for helpful definition and explanation ↩

Music – Audio and Video Files

Various sites from where songs and hymn resources are available

Please ensure that appropriate licensing permission is in place when using these resources.

🟪 Items marked with 🟪 have Advent and Christmas music.

🟪 John Rutter 2021 Christmas Album now available on Apple Music, and on other platforms. Commercial music such as this can’t of course be streamed or otherwise broadcast without explicit permission, but can be used within on-site worship where there is no recording or broadcast.

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/i-sing-of-a-maiden-5-new-carols-by-john-rutter-ep/1588777984

St Chads, York

www.stchadsyork.org/freemusic

Evangelical Movement of Wales

https://www.emw.org.uk/what-we-do/resourcing-publications/hymns-for-use-in-church-services

Songs for Sunday

RCL based Suggestions from Trinity College, Glasgow

https://www.trinitycollegeglasgow.co.uk/blog/categories/songs-for-sunday

Craigsbank Parish Church

‘performance permission’ granted, for these to be used alongside CCLi or appropriate Streaming Licence.

www.youtube.com/channel/UCu1xAS2e9Co3uzCOitH8jug

Everingham Music

https://youtube.com/channel/UCjSod1JYIqPRsUakBSsfWQQ

Scottish Psalter, Hymns etc

stevenstonhighkirk.com/praise-resources

🟪 – Advent and Christmas Music

Joyfulnoise.uk 🟪

https://www.joyfulnoise.uk

Comfort and Joy https://youtu.be/uJsE63PIWjU

Ferryhill Church Virtual Choir 🟪

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnNbNiZRmbhgnVL2DLL5TCGeiB6FJKRmq

Engage Worship 🟪

https://engageworship.org/ideas/christmas-carol-videos

Fischy Music

youtu.be/LEORRN_3avU – a Song for Christmas 🟪 – can be freely streamed and shared.

Small Church Music

https://www.smallchurchmusic.com

Public domain music – freely usable

Home for Christmas 🟪

www.homeforchristmas.org.uk

Rev Craig Downes

YouTube Channel with permission to use.

https://youtube.com/channel/UCi8PQtGQhrP7BmG3yM8SqrQ

ChristianBSL 🟪

Traditional Carols, with BSL

https://christianbsl.com/music/

Virtual-Organist.Com 🟪

Virtual-Organist.com – public domain tunes downloadable as MP3s – favourite hymn tunes from Mike Whitton.

Premier Christian Radio 🟪

Downloadable Resources inc Carols

https://www.premierchristianradio.com/Christmas-Resources/Christmas-Resources-Downloads

Emu Music 🟪

Small Church Music

www.smallchurchmusic.com

Public domain mp3s available for download

Carolyn’s Hymns

www.carolynshymns.com

Carolyn says, “Some pastors and church music leaders have asked for permission to use my hymns in worship services that they are streaming live, or in other ways they are reaching out to their congregations from a distance. During these challenging times, you have my permission to go ahead and use my copyrighted hymns in these ways for free.”

Graham Kendrick

www.grahamkendrick.co.uk

Resound Worship 🟪

www.resoundworship.org

During the Covid-19 crisis, we give permission for all churches worldwide to stream Resound Worship songs. This includes our videos, our recordings, our lyrics and your own performances.

If you have a streaming licence (eg CCLI, OneLicense), we’d appreciate it if you would report your usage. If you don’t, we would like you to use our material anyway

Suggestions from Resound Worship