Zoom meetings bring people closer

I had hoped to be able to point you to the talks given at Keswick’s ‘Faith in the Second Half’ Conference last month, but they are not up on the website yet. You will be especially blessed by hearing Jeremy Marshall, the former CEO of Kingdom Bank until diagnosed with terminal cancer and given 18 months to live seven years ago. Jeremy says he has become an ‘accidental evangelist’ as he has been interviewed hundreds of times on how his illness affects his faith. My talk on ‘Bereavement and Loneliness’ follows Jeremy’s. I found the FiSH conference by Zoom a contrast to the ‘live’ Keswick Convention in 2018 when I gave two talks: I was struck by the difference in speaking via Zoom for both speaker and participants, and by a benefit for the latter that I hadn’t anticipated.

As a rule, after a ‘live’ talk a group of people wait to talk to the speaker more closely, either with questions or to share their own experiences, and it’s disappointing when there isn’t time enough to do this moving away to make space for the next session. But Zoom creates this kind of closeness, and for some time I wondered if it could this be a way of making sure no-one was left behind, and that everyone was involved?

So, screwing my courage to the sticking place, I learnt to master the technology and offer more relaxed meetings over Zoom. Participants are able to bring their questions and interact with one another, as well as with the speaker. The first meeting proved the principle because even though I’d set the timing wrongly and everyone was thrown out halfway through, they all came back, smiling. Everyone, it seems, has their own Zoom stories!

The topics we’ve covered so far have included what dementia caregivers need most, encouraging older people to live God’s purpose, techniques for helping people with dementia communicate effectively, and Brain and Soul Boosting (BSB). As well as me, speakers include former GP Dr Jennifer Bute, retired home manager and psychogeriatric nurse Janet Jacob, and experts in BSB, Sally Twigg and Jo Dunne from Stapleford Church, Northampton. Our next meeting is at 2:30, Tuesday 8^th June, on ‘Taking Church into Care Homes’. Revd Roger Hitchings will be speaking from his years of experience, and Janet will share from hers as a care home manager.

We learn a lot from each meeting. We learnt, for example, how difficult it can be to care for a close relative with dementia who has always been distant and uncaring, and who doesn’t want social carers to spend time with her but just clean the house. From America, we heard from the founder/ manager of a Christian domiciliary care agency (which she sees as a ministry) how difficult it is to inspire local churches to support the work, even to putting little recruitment advertisements on their notice boards or information sheets. Discussions continue via email after each meeting and more topics are lined up to explore, though there’s a growing core of regular attendees whatever the topic.

I am constantly learning how a simple word of encouragement can be like Archimedes’ proverbial lever – it can move someone’s world from the shadows into the light. ‘Thank you for inviting me,’ said a woman who cares for her mother, ‘I don’t say much but I love listening, and have learnt a lot from the others. It helps so much.’