Amid the COVID-19 pandemic,Holy Spirit Empowerment Global Church went from a telephone conference line ministry to a full scale cyber church.
“Being that we are a cyber church we were kind of well prepared before the pandemic began,” said the Rev. Donia Walsh, pastor of Holy Spirit Empowerment Global Church.
Walsh established Holy Spirit Empowerment Global Church in July however, its journey began two years ago as a prayer line ministry called the Holy Spirit Empowerment Mobile Ministry. Attracting people from various states across the country with some listeners based overseas.
“We gathered together back in July 2018 on the telephone conference line four days a week sometimes or more, depending on what we were doing,” Walsh said. “That prayer line developed into the virtual church which is the Holy Spirit Empowerment Global Church. We can be seen on YouTube, we fellowship on Zoom and Facebook, and recently as of March we have started a live broadcast on EAJ 1023 Radio on Sundays at 10 a.m.”
According to Walsh, Holy Spirit Empowerment Global Church is committed to being a church without walls.
“Reaching the world through the internet to bring the good news of Jesus Christ is our mission as well as, bringing healing to the hurting,” she said. “You know a lot of people are hurting these days so the word of God is going out and reconciling. Our mission right now is to evangelize the live broadcasting and hopefully in 2021 things will get a little bit easier and hopefully a lot better with covid.”
Last weekend the church hosted its annual end of the year celebration via Zoom.
“This is our first online event, we’ve never done this before,” Walsh said. “We’re actually going to have a full celebration online which we would normally have in Maryland at one of the Marriotts but due to the covid restrictions we were not able to do that.”
The purpose of the celebration is to give members an opportunity to express and testify what God has done for them this year.
“Sharing with others, fellowship, and worship,” said Walsh. “We have also our children ministry, they’re going to be involved and talking about what Christ means to them. There is a praise dance team that is going to do a praise dance online. We have a soloist singing for us, a guest gospel artist, and a guest speaker out of Africa ministering to us on Sunday.”
Sister Karen Harrison said attending Holy Spirit Empowerment Global Church is “one of the best things that happen for me.”
“It’s been a blessing,” she said. “Coming from attending a church whose doors were closed due to covid, it’s been a blessing to have this ministry because I don’t think I’d be active or participating in a church if it were not for the Holy Spirit Empowerment Global Church.”
According to Harrison this form of worship and gathering is convenient especially since she’s also working from home.
“I can just log on,” Harrison said. “We’re such a tight knit group, it feels like family. It’s easy to pay tides and continue to spread the word of God’s kingdom. We enjoyed yesterday’s service, the word was on time. I was truly touched. It’s nice having guest speakers from time to time, they truly uplift us.”
For those in doubt, or who frown upon using cyberspace to praise and worship, Walsh advises them to “go ahead and embrace what we have for now.”
“Sometimes we have to step outside of our comfort zones,” Walsh said. “This world is going towards technology right now. Everything is online, so you have to just give it a try. If you don’t try you would never know what something is like.”
“And even in the beginning if you don’t feel too comfortable, keep going and don’t give up. These platforms are out there and the bottom line is to get the word out to save the souls,” Walsh said.
