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The church that isn't closing its doors

Sophia Smith Galer

March 25, 2020 |

BBC |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: Netherlands

VR Church, an online, fully virtual place of worship, offers a religious community outlet for people who are not able to attend physical churches, for reasons of disability, autism, or any number of things that keep people from attending. Though there might be a learning curve at first to master the VR headset technology, VR Church has seen a growth in popularity during the global lockdown due to COVID-19.

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'Pray At Home!' Houses Of Worship Close Physical Doors, Open Virtual Ones

Zainab Iqbal

March 24, 2020 |

Bklynr |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

In New York City, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, houses of worship are urging their followers to pray at home. Synagogues, mosques, and churches alike are looking at alternative ways to worship, like teleconferencing and public access television.

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Churches seek unique solutions to ban on public gatherings

Ashley Saari

March 22, 2020 |

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New Hampshire

Churches are offering online sermons to keep people connected while avoiding large public gatherings during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some are using technology they already had in place to stream online services, while others are setting up new infrastructure to adapt to the changes. Some churches saw a 900% increase in already available streaming worships and others have groups of 50 logging in to new streaming services. While not the same as meeting in person, virtual coffee hours and other programming also help foster connectedness and replace services, like support groups, that many people rely on.

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A megachurch has helped test nearly 1,000 people for coronavirus in two days

Sarah Pulliam Bailey

March 19, 2020 |

The Washington Post |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham, Alabama’s Church of the Highlands has opened up a drive-through COVID19 testing station that has already seen over 1,000 people. By coordinating with Alabama’s governor, the church is able to help test people who are showing symptoms and then give them directives on what to do next, whether it be to go to the hospital or go home and rest. Those with health insurance get their insurance billed, but for those without, they don’t have to pay at all.

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Islam Finds a Home in German Classrooms

Isabelle de Pommereau

March 18, 2020 |

Are We Europe |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Germany, Frankfurt, Hesse

Germany is unusual amongst countries in its attitude towards religion—it considers faith to be "sociologically and psychologically important and part of both individuals and society." In these advances, it has begun to teach the religion of Islam in its German-speaking public schools, within state-supervised curriculum that also covers Catholicism and Protestantism. This helps the German people to get to know their large Muslim population better and helps weed out radicalism with education. This is part of a larger strategy to better integrate their Muslim residents, which has a lot of public support.

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Advocacy for LGBTQIA Children, Youth Grows in Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Mary Margaret Stewart

March 16, 2020 |

Grady Newsource |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Atlanta, Georgia

The Episcopal Church advised Dioceses to be more inclusive of LGBTQIA and differently abled children and youth, particularly in light of the high numbers of LGBTQIA youth suicides. Rather than wait the years it could take for specific how-to guidance, the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta trained 30 volunteers to lead “Safeguarding” sessions where church members hear first hand accounts of the needs and concerns of LGBTQIA and differently abled youth and can form relationships with them and their families. The sessions are booked two months out and all clergy in the Diocese are being required to attend in person.

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Dimesse sisters link female prisoners to society in Kenya

Doreen Ajiambo

February 20, 2020 |

Global Sisters Report |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Kenya

Kenya's overcrowded and poorly maintained prisons offer some educational and rehabilitative programs to inmates, but the nuns of the Dimesse congregation provide something else to try to transform the lives of those who committed crimes: religious instruction, with a side helping of basic humanitarian supplies. Along with food, underwear, and sanitary pads, the nuns use regular visits to men's and women's prisons to hand out bibles and give faith-based instruction aimed at reintegrating shunned citizens once they return to their communities.

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How one Toronto church is beating the odds

Karen Black

February 03, 2020 |

TVO |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Canada, Toronto, Ontario

Facing closure and financial ruin, the Toronto Roncesvalles United Church found a new source of income: their own physical space. The church began renting or donating rooms for flea markets, yoga classes, shiatsu, children's theater, and more. The church says that they are "redefining how [they] do God," and that their mission is about serving the people in the community rather than remaining exclusively secular. As a result, the church topped $200,000 for the first time in its history in 2019.

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An Atlanta Church and a Theater Nonprofit Find Sanctuary Together

Adina Solomon

January 29, 2020 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, College Park, Georgia

Collaborations can breathe new life into community churches. In College Park, Georgia, the College Park First United Methodist Church entered into a partnership with PushPush, a theater nonprofit formerly located in the metro Atlanta area. The partnership came about with the help of Good Spaces, a socially-minded real estate development organization.

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Fix It and They Will Come

Laurie Mazur

December 01, 2019 |

The Progressive |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Orange, New Jersey

Around the United States, small-town institutions are shuttering and communal ties are weakening, all less than positive signs for the fate of democracy. But in Orange, New Jersey, Mindy Fullilove and other congregants at the First Unitarian Universalist Church used a crowdfunding platform called ioby and asset-based community development to keep the doors of their church open and their community flourishing.

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