COVID-19: Resuming in-person worship services, Phase 1
Yesterday, the governor of Iowa announced that more businesses will be allowed to open across the state, bringing closer the day when our church will be able to resume in-person worship services. As I have explained in previous posts, we are watching for specific external and internal criteria to be in place before we open again the doors of the church. We are not there yet, and as such, we have not yet set a date to resume our in-person worship services. Even so, our leadership team has been strategizing for that day when we are able to meet in-person once again.
Before I get to the details of our re-opening strategy, though, three things should be noted. First, our church is relatively small. With a pre-COVID-19 average attendance of about 40, we simply do not offer large church amenities such as multiple worship services, indoor playgrounds, or designer coffee bars. These things, then, will not be missed. Second, our facility is relatively large. Over the last few weeks, I have stopped counting the number of times I have heard someone say that small churches have an advantage in the next phase of COVID-19 because they have fewer people and will be able to gather earlier. In reality, though, this is less a function of the number of people than it is the square footage of the facility. It would be just as foolish to meet with 25 people in a space designed for 30 as it would be to meet with 500 people in a space designed for 600. Having enough space to physically distance is essential. Finally, we have a history of trusting people’s judgment. For the last several years, it has been our policy to never cancel church on account of inclement weather. Instead, we advise people to not attend if they do not feel comfortable doing so, and we trust that they will make the best decision for themselves.
That said, the nature of COVID-19 and other epidemics requires that numerous precautions are taken to avoid a resurgence. Therefore, once we are confident that we have satisfied all of our established external and internal criteria, our leadership team has developed a three-phase plan to resume in-person worship services and other activities at the church. Once again, we have not yet set a date for when we will begin to implement this plan, but in this post, I want to share some of the details of the strategy’s first phase.
Phase 1: In-Person Worship
Once our criteria for resuming worship gatherings have been met, we will announce a date for our first in-person worship services at least one week in advance. This announcement will be made during an online worship service. It will be followed by announcements on our YouTube channel, social media accounts, and our website. We will also send an email announcement to everyone on our mailing list.
Certainly, we are all anxious to return to some semblance of normalcy, but during this first phase, the focus will be on resuming our primary Sunday morning worship service in a safe manner. Because we offer only one primary worship service weekly, this might seem like a fairly simple thing, but there are still many things that must be considered.
For instance, social distancing will need to be enforced. People will not be allowed to congregate in the foyer. Members of the hospitality team will show people to their seats as they enter and dismiss row-by-row as we exit. Pews will be marked, and we will ask families to sit together and leave a margin between themselves and the next family. We will strictly enforce seating capacities so that, once we are out of seats, no one else will be allowed to enter. We are even considering requiring tickets to help manage this. And children will be expected to sit with their families.
One of our highest priorities will be to limit the number of common contact points where germs may be deposited by one carrier and then picked up by everyone else. Therefore, we will not provide bulletins or other printed materials, and hymnals, Bibles, pens, pencils, and more will be removed from the pew racks for the time being. We will require everyone to enter and exit through the main entrance, where a member of the hospitality team will hold the door open. Other doors will be propped open. We will not pass an offering plate. Instead, we will encourage everyone to utilize online giving or leave a check in a box at the back of the sanctuary. Also, a hand sanitizer station will be available in the foyer for people to use as they come and go.
In between services, the utilized portions of the facility will be sanitized. Because of the work involved in properly sanitizing these spaces, we will also be restricting access to much of the facility. Spaces that are not in use will be secured. Also, activity between services will continue to be minimized to allow plenty of time and space for the sanitization process to be completed.
Ministries other than the primary worship service will not yet resume in-person meetings. That is, there will be no in-person Discover Groups (a.k.a., Sunday School) meeting Sunday morning or any other day during the week. The Adventure Club and Youth Group will not meet. And the church nursery will remain closed.
Perhaps the most conspicuous thing that we have been compelled to consider is the risk of singing. Studies have shown that singing produces a microscopic spray of saliva and mucus called aerosol which is projected as much as 25 feet from the singer. This aerosol can remain suspended in the air for hours, and anyone who walks through it during that time will be at risk of contracting COVID-19. Therefore, out of an abundance of caution, we will not be singing during this first phase of in-person meetings.
Even as we prepare to worship under these restrictions, we are conscious that there are many who are especially vulnerable to COVID-19. Others will not yet be comfortable attending an in-person worship service for a variety of reasons. For these people, we will continue to offer an online worship service, though we are still working out how that will compare to our in-person service. Further, for those who are unable to participate in the online service, we will continue to offer DVDs and CDs.
We recognize that these are significant restrictions. Some may even preclude people from attending. We truly regret this, but we are convinced that these restrictions are necessary to ensure the safety of everyone who does attend. Therefore, those who cannot abide by these restrictions are welcome to continue worshiping with us online.
Finally, during this first phase of resuming in-person worship services, we will continue to closely monitor the daily reports of new COVID-19 cases in our county. If the infection rates begin to trend upward again, we will halt in-person services until such time as the external and internal criteria are once again met.
As we prayerfully prepare to resume in-person worship services, we are quite mindful of the profound uncertainties of this time. Moreover, no matter when or how we move forward, there will be people who believe that we are not quick enough, and there will be others who believe we are entirely too quick. Therefore, grace and patience will be absolutely key during this uncertain season.
In many ways, resuming in-person worship services is like walking on ice of uncertain depth. As a kid who did much more ice fishing than I do now, I learned to tread very cautiously when you did not know the ice depth for sure. To do this, I would step out and test the ice, putting part of my weight on the foot before I put all of my weight down. In doing so, the hope was that the ice may crack, but I would not fall through.
To be quite honest, our entire leadership team is uncertain exactly how thick the ice is as we move toward resuming in-person worship services. We know only that we do not want to fall through. Therefore, the key to this first phase of resuming in-person services is to move forward cautiously, not fearfully, and prayerfully find our way together.