News
Monday, January 17, 2022
Omicron Causes Churches to Reconsider Online-Only Worship
Omicron Causes Churches to Reconsider Online-Only Worship By Cassy Benefield | SpokaneFāVS.com Reprinted with permission When Pastor Cody Natland’s Moran United Methodist Church community restarted indoor worship in their sanctuary in Nov. 2021, he didn’t even make it all th
Friday, January 14, 2022
Despite Pandemic, N.C. Church Comes Together to Buy School District Food Truck
Mac's Diner Food Truck/Contributed By Tracy Simmons First United Methodist Church of Graham has always helped its school district. Providing school supplies and clothing for its students is nothing new. But after reading an article about the difficulty of feeding students over the sum
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Report Shows Congregations Respond to Pandemic With Extraordinary Social Outreach
HARTFORD, CT — Just in time for the holiday season, the Hartford Institute for Religion Research has released its second report examining how U.S. congregations are navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, and findings this time show most churches are embracing new and innovative ministry opportunities.
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
Reflections on Shared Themes in the “Navigating the Pandemic” and “When Pastors Put on the Tech Hat” Reports
by Heidi A. Campbell, PhD The following guest post was submitted by Dr. Heidi A. Campbell of the Network of New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies, one of our collaborating organizations. Interested in submitting your research to be featured? Learn more and contact us! The resear
Monday, November 29, 2021
Tech in Churches During COVID-19 Research Project Publishes First Report
by Heidi A. Campbell, PhD The following guest post was submitted by Dr. Heidi A. Campbell of the Network of New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies, one of our collaborating organizations. Interested in submitting your research to be featured? Learn more and contact us! Tech in C
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
New Report Offers First Glimpse of How U.S. Congregations Are Navigating the COVID-19 Pandemic
HARTFORD, CT – In November the Hartford Institute for Religion Research released a study giving the first glimpse of how U.S. congregations are navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, and data shows that congregational life is far from being “back to normal.”
Friday, August 6, 2021
Pandemic Past, Pandemic Present: Masks and Social Distancing
By Andrew Gardner, PhD Last week, the Center for Disease Control updated their recommendations for combatting the new Delta variant of the coronavirus. New data suggests that while vaccines are still highly effective against severe disease and hospitalization from t
Wednesday, July 21, 2021
Hartford Seminary Receives $5 million Lilly Endowment Grant
Hartford Seminary has been awarded a five-year, $5.3 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to fund research into how congregations are changing, innovating, and establishing new ministry practices as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research (HIRR) will
Tuesday, July 20, 2021
Pandemic Past, Pandemic Present: Church is Cancelled
By Andrew Gardner, PhD In March of 2020, congregations across the United States made drastic and abrupt changes to their worship services and programming, shifting from in person gatherings to digital gatherings via Zoom and Youtube. One survey found that from March 8 to March 22, 2020, 84% of