Church Covid-19 workarounds
Eutychus
Shipmate
Sparked by this exchange over in Purgatory:
We already have a lively thread on Communion and Covid-19 that includes both practical and theological aspects.
As gatherings of more than a few people are becoming prohibited all over the place, the aim of this thread is to discuss churches' other practical and technical responses to being church when it seems we must "give up the habit of meeting together" (Heb 10:25)!
We already have a lively thread on Communion and Covid-19 that includes both practical and theological aspects.
As gatherings of more than a few people are becoming prohibited all over the place, the aim of this thread is to discuss churches' other practical and technical responses to being church when it seems we must "give up the habit of meeting together" (Heb 10:25)!
Comments
I suspect it’s not long before services are cancelled altogether, so we are looking into having our Minister connected from home.
Maybe Church of Fools needs to be resurrected?
This is apparently not a technical option with our current platform.
We have made some small changes for Sunday, continuing until the situation improves. Advice that anyone who feels unwell stays at home. Have a collection plate at the sanctuary entrance rather than being passed around the congregation (so people don't keep touching it). Asking people not to shake hands, and not be offended if the minister refuses. We won't be using the common cup, and will have a dozen wee cuppies set out for communion. Not sure what we'll be doing re: hymn books yet.
Re hymn books - it is usually I who gives out hymn/service books these days, so I have a vessel of hand-sanitizer at the ready on the book table, which vessel I will use as I hand out the books.
Or would it be better simply to ask people to pick up their own book(s)?
If people are part of a church, it's because they feel part of a community. Effectively disbanding that community, even virtually, is irresponsible towards a flock, I feel.
(Heard here: "there's plenty of stuff online already, why bother to provide more?").
I (and my assistant sidesman) will sanitise our hands before handling the books, but it is not, I think, a practical proposition to place the books in the pews beforehand, Good Idea though it is. Our people attend so irregularly that it is hard to say who will be in the church, and where they'll be sitting, on any given Sunday...
This.
In fact, it would be possible for everyone in our little congregation to sit at least a metre apart, though families and couples might find it a bit odd, IYSWIM.
It's all a bit of a challenge, no? Doubtless the General Ingenuity of Humming Beans will find some interesting ways of meeting that challenge!
Which may seem extreme but if like many places ours older adults who are most likely to attend both funerals and Sunday services, it's probably irresponsible not to consider everything.
Basically "please keep your ministries serving the needy (in whatever way) going with appropriate precautions to minimize transmission, but worship at home.
Maybe more use could, and should, be made of the C of E's online link to Daily Prayer:
https://churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/join-us-service-daily-prayer
By this means, the Faithful with internet access can be kept in touch with the prayers and readings for the day/season, even if they can't physically get to church. Not the same as receiving Communion at Mass/Eucharist, I know, but...
The minister has a cough and is self isolating, so our AV plans are not happening.
The best laid plans of a/v teams and men ...
🤔
This may be a silly question, so please bear with me, but are there other local churches still open, which you could attend if you wished, taking the recommended precautions, of course?
The local Catholic Bishops have also done something similar. Regular Sunday Mass is suspended, and there's a dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass.
Sorry, but I could not disagree more strongly. I called my fragile 84-year-old mother up last night and begged her not to go to church for the foreseeable future. And then today I called the friend who takes her to church and begged her not to take my mother to church, with more success. If the church would just tell her not to come, maybe I could get more sleep.
The church I work for will stream the service this Sunday on Facebook and YouTube, with just a small group of people making this happen in the room where we can best plug into wired internet. The congregational care committee is stepping up efforts to keep our more fragile members connected via phone, and they'll match anyone who asks with another member of the congregation who will check on them regularly, do grocery runs, stuff like that.
One size does not fit all, obviously, but there are ways to minister to people without gathering them all together to share a virus that is so deadly to older folks. It's irresponsible to not consider other options.
I think conventional church should stop as of now, but I don't think that means the church should simply cast its congregation off and hang a "closed" sign outside, which is what I took "hiatus" to mean above. The challenge is how to "be" church in this strange new paradigm and first and foremost for those who are the most vulnerable and excluded by age, health, the digital divide, etc. How shall we sing the Lord's song in this strange land, with an emphasis on the we?
As the email sent to the congregation today said: “There are two threats that we are taking very seriously. One threat is to public health, especially those who are most vulnerable to this virus. The other threat, which is less tangible, yet every bit as important, is to the fabric of our community, our sense of connection, compassion, support and care.”
I live in a province where internet is a public utility and actually available free in the downtown. If it was wanted to stream on Wi-Fi, the internet has no caps for bandwidth. Only cellphone data. The trick would be setting up viewing. I don't know how GoTo Meeting, Zoom and the like work for broadcast. I've attended virtual meetings of up to 200 as a participant. The viewer simply goes to a website or dials a phone number and enters a code number. In that medium the host sees who is online or dialed in, and can read typed comments and questions. I wonder how that would go for sermons.
Yes, I did! My apologies. We are very much on the same page.
Not a problem with Anglicans once you ban the exchange of the peace as that is about as close to one another as they like to get!
We are not doing much yet other than suggesting to those that are unwell that they should stay home, and encouraging everyone to wash their hands often. I have strongly suggested to those who receive on the tongue that they should receive in the hand for the time being. Common Cup remains in use, but those who are particularly worried have permission to receive in one kind.
I shall be consuming Anglican backwash as usual.
It gives the person administering more chance of unwittingly coming into contact with bodily fluids which they then unintentionally pass on to subsequent persons.
The same advice not to receive on the tongue has been issued in past flu seasons too.
The question for whether to hold services is a balance: On one hand, we have an elderly congregation and meeting on Sunday is an important part of their social network; when the elderly are already quite socially isolated, it's not good to cut another chunk of their social network. On the other, there's a small risk that someone in the congregation knows someone who has contracted the virus (a risk that will increase over coming weeks), a small chance that the virus will have been passed onto the member of the congregation*, and a small chance that they will pass that onto someone else in the congregation, and finally a small chance that that member will suffer serious complications. At present our church (and the other local churches in our joint pastorate) have decided to continue with our normal service schedule while taking practical steps to significantly reduce the risks of transmission between church members during the service - asking everyone to wash hands on arrival and before leaving (or, using gel if the minister has managed to find some), asking people to refrain from the usual handshaking and hugs when they arrive, wiping down all surfaces (door handles etc) hymn book covers etc before and after the service, stop using the common cup and space out the chairs a bit more to allow me (as server) to hold the plate and tray of cups to each member so that they don't hold it as it's passed down the line, not passing the collection plate (so no one has to touch it). But, we're not stopping meeting together completely. We have a joint service of all three churches at the end of the month, which will mean a congregation 3-4x larger than normal, we've yet to make any decisions about that (there are several weeks to go, no need to rush).
* present evidence suggests that the average number of people who will contract the virus from a single infected individual is 3-4. How many people only meet 3-4 other people in a couple of weeks? For most people, the number would be much higher, if that's 30-40 people they meet then only 10% of people they meet will be infected.
California has 247 known cases in a population of 40 million, and we know they're not testing nearly enough people. Schools in all the state's metropolitan areas will be closed starting Monday. The state is saying groups of more than 250 should not meet. So the senior minister convened a task force made up of two doctors in the congregation (one is a pediatric epidemiologist), the head of palliative care at the best hospital in town, the church officers, and the chair of deacons. They met separately and also with the leaders of most of the organizations that use church facilities: homeless services, children's services, 12-step groups, Scouts, ESL classes, a spiritual yoga group, a preschool ... I think I'm remembering them all. Most of them had already decided to suspend operations. The task force decided to close almost everything. The services offered to homeless people will go on in restricted form so no more than 50 people are together in our large hall at once. The preschool is staying open for now, as it is governed by state licensing and not the school district. They'll livestream church, as I said, then we'll email out a link to the audio recording along with the service bulletin next week. The office and maintenance department are staying open, so I'll be at work next week. And honestly I'm very grateful to be going into a space that won't have been touched by several hundred people on Sunday.
AFAIK our usual Mothering Sunday Family Mass & Scout Parade (on 22nd) is going ahead, unless other counsels prevail next week. Actually, it's not necessarily a bad idea, as we use a simple bespoke service leaflet with all the hymns and prayers on it, so no need to handle books etc.
We did a similar thing to what Ruth described, in terms of gathering members of the congregation who have some connection and experience with public health to make recommendation. We are continuing our lunch ministry to the homeless, though instead of making sandwiches ourselves, we’re buying them from the deli across the street. That way we’re assured of them being prepared in a properly cleaned kitchen, and we’re supporting a “neighbor” restaurant that otherwise might face hard times due to the extension of spring break at the nearby university.
As best I can tell, relatively few churches, at least of the mainline Protestant denominations, will be having services tomorrow. The local Catholic bishop has not suspended masses, but has waived the Sunday obligation until the crisis has passed.
A lot of churches in UKland are very much smaller, numerically, than many in USland...or so it seems.
Indeed. And hence the idea that you might have a group of people (or even one person) with sufficient professional expertise to advise is pretty alien too. Not to mention being able to quickly draw on the resources and infrastructure to live stream a service. Heck, for us even hand washing will be a challenge as we can only get hot water from the tea urn.
OTOH, and looking on the bright side, the small size of some UKland congregations means that it's not too difficult to carry on as per usual.
Said he, hopefully...