COVID-19: Internal conditions which must be in place before resuming in-person worship services

Over the past couple of weeks, as the news surrounding COVID-19 has birthed cautious optimism across our nation, there have been any number of new “experts” offering their advice concerning the re-opening of businesses and churches. I will not be so audacious to claim that title, but our leadership team has been very busy considering the insights of several of these experts. Further, I have spent several hours collaborating with other pastors and such about things. Flowing from this conversation, last week, I wrote an article about the three external factors – things that we cannot control – that must be in place before we resume in-person worship services. Today, I would humbly offer a list of some of the internal things that must be in place before we can resume in-person worship services.

To be clear, these are things that we can control. Some of them are questions that need to be answered. Some of them are plans, procedures, and policies that need to be formulated. Some of them are things that just need to be done. That, though, is the point: these things are not would-be-nice things. They are needs that absolutely must be in place before in-person services can resume at our church.

Sustainable plan for cleaning and sanitizing the facility

Probably the most obvious thing that must be in place before resuming in-person worship services is a plan for sanitizing the church facility after every service. For large churches with dedicated custodial staff, this may be simple, but for small churches, it can be a little more burdensome. Consider, for example, the church that typically has a cleaning contractor visit the facility every other week. By asking that contractor to sanitize the facility after every service will at least double the cost of that service. Perhaps even more complicated, though, is the case of the church that depends on volunteers. A plan must be in place to ensure that volunteers are lined up for each week and that they are properly trained to use the various equipment and chemicals needed to sanitize the facility. Further, they must be trained to use the proper PPE.

In addition to ensuring adequate train personnel, attention must be paid to the increased need of cleaning supplies. At the very least, the increased sanitization requirements will require more supplies as more frequent cleanings equates to more supplies used, but depending on the church’s typical cleaning process, it may require the addition of different supplies. Are there certifications needed to obtain and/or use those supplies?

Moreover, the custodial staff may require personal protective equipment. How tragic would it be if a volunteer church cleaner contracted COVID-19 and then shared it with his/her grandparent or infant child?

Finally, because this virus is not going anywhere for at least the next several months, whatever plans we formulate must be sustainable. How unfortunate it would be to resume in-person worship services for two or three weeks, only to stop them again when you are unable to replenish the supply of Lysol spray.

Plan for no-contact services

Touch is a staple of in-person church services. We touch the doors to enter and exit the building. We shake each other’s hands, give hugs, and even greet one another with a holy kiss. We pour coffee from a carafe, pump, or Keurig machine. We pick up a bulletin, a hymnal, or a pew Bible. We pass the offering plate. With COVID-19, every one of these points of physical contact presents a possible point of transmission. It is therefore imperative to take deliberate action to minimize the need for touch throughout the service.

In some cases, the best way to do this is to eliminate the possibility altogether. Lock doors to spaces that are not being used to prevent roaming people from contaminating the spaces. Do not offer coffee or bulletins. Remove hymnals and pew Bibles.

In other cases, the best we can do is mitigate the risk. We may not be able to prevent people from shaking hands, but we can certainly discourage it. If an offering is to be taken, invite people to place it in a basket as they exit the sanctuary rather than passing plates and exposing the entire congregation.

What about communion?

In almost every Christian tradition, communion is a key part of the worship service. With COVID-19, community cups and a single loaf of bread are not an option. So also, trays from which the whole congregation takes an individual cup or wafer are problematic. Fortunately, many traditions – like my own – do not celebrate communion weekly. Others subscribe to the notion that the pastor or priest may participate on behalf of the rest of the congregation. However, even in these traditions, communion is a vital part of worship for many. For instance, in our church, the sacrament is celebrated monthly, and I regularly hear from people who appreciate it! It is therefore imperative to at least develop a plan for if and how you will administer the sacrament of communion. In our case, we have resolved to purchase prepackaged communion supplies, and we have already received enough for the next 6 months or so. However, in the process of doing so, we discovered that many suppliers are backordered. If you intend to celebrate communion soon, you will not want to wait to order your supplies!

Procure a sustainable supply of masks

As we approach the resumption of in-person worship services, there is the very real possibility that a church will want to require mask usage inside the facility. It is, however, not realistic to expect everyone to arrive with their own masks. Churches, therefore, must be prepared with a supply of disposable masks for those who do not have them. This will require the availability of a sustainable supply of masks.

Recalculate seating capacity

The requirements of social distancing will have a profound impact on the seating capacity of our meeting spaces. In our facility, our maximum seating capacity is approximately 112. After accounting for six-foot margins between family groups, however, that drops to approximately 48 people, or 43%. This is what we might be able to seat for a wedding, funeral, or other special event, but it has always been a general rule of thumb that you can fill a space to only about 80% on an ongoing basis. Thus, our comfortable seating capacity is now a maximum of about 38 people. Check out my previous article to see how we arrived that these numbers.

Sustainable plan for maintaining online services

Here is a simple fact: online services are here to stay. Although they may have been optional before COVID-19, they will now be expected. It is therefore imperative that, as our churches consider plans for resuming in-person worship services, we must also develop plans to maintain our online services. This will be essential for those who are still vulnerable or uncomfortable attending. In addition, the fact that singing is quite possibly one of the most effective ways to spread this virus would suggest that, if we want to worship in song, it will need to be online for the foreseeable future.

Enlarged hospitality team in place

Hospitality is the art of making someone feel welcome. The most obvious element of hospitality, of course, is the greeting, but it is actually a much more significant thing than that! Consider what you do when you find out a guest is coming for dinner. You clean the kitchen and the bathrooms, turn on the lights, and wait at the door. In this new world of COVID-19, these are precisely the sort of things we must plan to do to welcome people into our facilities. For the foreseeable future, we will need a hospitality team in place that is prepared to hold doors for people coming and going, sanitize key spaces after use, and even usher people to their seats in order to ensure social distancing guidelines are met. All of this will need to be done in addition to the typical greeting that is extended as people walk through the door. If your church is like ours, then that will require a significant expansion of the hospitality team because people cannot be both holding the door and cleaning the bathroom.

As much clutter as possible removed from facility

Finally, clutter is problematic for multiple reasons. The most significant of these are (1) the surfaces that may harbor COVID-19, (2) the increased effort required to clean, and (3) the perception of uncleanness. The effect of all this is that, when someone comes into the sanctuary and sees clutter, they will wonder how clean the rest of the place really is. It is therefore imperative that we aggressively remove any items which may be cluttering our facilities. If it cannot be removed, at least organize it in a closet and seal it to mitigate the risk.

Clearly, there are many internal factors which must be considered and addressed. Over the next few weeks, we will be working on these at our church, and I expect most churches will be doing something similar. What other factors am I missing?