Gold Hill Lutheran Church is an ELCA congregation in Butte, MT that averages just over 130 people in worship each Sunday morning. Their pastor’s one minute worship service (January 12, 2014) has gone viral. It took less than a week for the video to reach 1 million views.
So What?
Timothy Christensen’s announcement was initially misunderstood by many as having been the full worship experience. In the days since, numerous corrections or updates to blog posts, tweets and other social sharing have largely corrected that misrepresentation. Following this announcement, he led the congregation in their normal worship experience.
This video is a refreshing reminder that announcements in worship need not be an epic fail; they can help make church more fun and can even be a way to reach beyond those physically gathered for worship.
- What was your initial reaction to the video?
- During the last few months, what stands out as the most memorable announcement made in your congregation? Why?
- What type of content that your church could produce do you think has the greatest likelihood of going viral?