In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, churches across the country have been closing their doors and moving services online to maintain social distancing guidelines. Pastor Yosub Namgung of Bethel-St. Matthew United Methodist churches, Mathews, and Pastor Bertina Westley of Salem United Methodist Church, Diggs, have since joined forces to bring worship messages on Sunday mornings to Facebook.
For the past two Sundays, Salem and Bethel-St. Matthew have posted their joint worship services on their Facebook pages. “Due to the crisis, we had to find an alternative way to worship,” said Westley.
Salem closed its doors on March 15 and did not have a worship service that week. Pastor Westley encouraged her congregants to engage in an online worship service with other Virginia United Methodist Churches that were streaming services.
“That gave me time to research what was needed to have an online service,” she said. “During my time of research, I was contacted by Joy Drummond, a member of Salem UMC...