COVID in church: Clergy still learning how to best serve congregations

LANCASTER — Religious services were temporarily canceled in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic; nearly two years later, religious leaders in Lancaster, are still learning how to best serve their congregations as COVID-19 continues to spread.

Personal leadership from within churches, as well as overhead orders from religious authorities and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines influenced many churches to close their doors to the public in March 2020. The duration of breaks from in-person services varied, as did the COVID-19 protocols individual churches followed.

Pastor Roger Quay of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Lancaster followed CDC recommendations and his own research to make COVID-19 decisions for his congregation.

During the time in-person worship was not an option, Quay posted Sunday services on YouTube; although in-person services are currently allowed, he still posts services online every Sunday. As for in-person worship, Quay has implemented social distancing, masking recommendations, and investigated how often the building recirculates air. He has also shortened services, removed all hymnals from pews and only allows two hymns to be sung per service. To stay above the political fray of COVID-19, he regularly cited recognized scientists when explaining to his congregation why procedures needed to be followed.

“I was upset at those who said, ‘Well, nobody can shut us down, we have our freedoms and God will protect us,’” Quay said. “I think God gives us our minds and our intellects to also use in a proper manner.”

Political pressures surrounding COVID-19 and the vaccine were not only a concern for ministers but also those attending services. According to the Pew Research Center, 70%of Americans want houses of worship to steer clear of political matters. That opinion is shared across denominations that tend to lean toward a particular political party.

Pastor Seth Wymer of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lancaster, as well as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Logan, said although the Episcopal denomination of Christianity is “fairly liberal,” there were situations in which politics took precedence in church conversation. The most polarizing issue Wymer’s congregations faced had to do with the COVID-19 vaccine.

As a clerical leader, Wymer was asked by members of his congregation whether he would take the vaccine.

“This isn't about politics,” Wymer said. “This is really what Jesus is talking about when he's saying, ‘love your neighbor,’ and this is one of those things that the good side effect is that you'reprotecting yourself, but maybe your main purpose for getting it is to protect (others).”

Despite many Americans believing religious organizations should avoid political matters, the majority of people who attend church services trust clergy as a source of COVID-19 information over the CDC, elected officials and the media, according to Pew Research Center data.

However, not all churches have had a steady source of leadership throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the start of the pandemic, St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Lancaster dealt with congregational issues and lacked a full-time pastor, so when in person worship was not recommended, the congregation was facing not one but two crises.

In 2019, St. Peter’s was considering leaving the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. A decision to remain affiliated with the ELCA caused a decrease in attendance before COVID-19. Once the pandemic hit, attendance dropped even more.

“The combined number (of in-person and online audiences) would be less than our best (at the) beginning of 2020, which was after our whole conflict and definitely less than what we had before … the whole conflict,” Jan Locascio, St. Peter’s recently retired parish aide, said. “We're probably down altogether maybe 20%.”

Quay has also noticed a dwindling of in-person attendance at St. Paul’s services. He said the lowered attendance numbers can be attributed to fear of COVID-19, anger stemming from the current climate of COVID-19 and forming a habit of staying at home on Sunday mornings instead of attending a worship service. Quay said there is no way of knowing whether those who have not come back yet ever will.

The Tree Church, a large, non-denominational Christian church in Lancaster has been affected by COVID-19 much less than smaller churches. Katie Iser, director of ministry systems at The Tree Church, said having a large attendance base before COVID-19 has prevented the church from suffering a loss of membership that is noticeable.

“We're constantly seeing faces that we haven't seen before or in a while, but then what we're realizing is we're not seeing the faces we saw last week,” Iser said. “It's been weird, our attendance has been consistent, but the people (who are attending) have not.”

Although some church congregations suffered drops in attendance due to COVID-19, Wymer found a silver lining of the pandemic in one of the many COVID-19 procedures he followed.

Despite seeing fewer people in person, Wymer watched as the online presence for the St. John’s Episcopal Facebook page grew. On Easter Sunday in 2020, Wymer’s Facebook Live garnered nearly 1,000 views, which is nearly 10 times the number of people who would have heard his sermon if it had only been offered during an in-person service.

“People who have never (attended) our church came across our Facebook page and found what we were doing was really cool and wanted to know the history of it,” Wymer said. “Now that we're worshipping in person, I would say 10% of those people have actually come to an in-person service they probably never would have otherwise.”

Unlike St. John’s Episcopal Church, for First Baptist Church in Lancaster, an online presence has had little effect on the congregation. In-person church services were canceled in mid-March of 2020 and recommenced eight weeks later.

During the eight-week hiatus, First Baptist Church posted a weekly service on the streaming site BoxCast on Sunday mornings. After eight weeks, the congregation felt gathering inside was safe if COVID-19 procedures were strictly followed.

To prevent the spread of COVID-19 while hosting in-person services, First Baptist Church added two more services per week, one of which was recorded and posted online for those who could not attend in person. Social distancing was also implemented, and each worship area was disinfected between services. Most individualized COVID-19 procedures are no longer practiced at First Baptist Church. However, masking is still recommended.

“We sensed our people weren’t as concerned anymore,” Dr. Art Fulks, the lead pastor at First Baptist Church, said when explaining why COVID-19 procedures were discontinued. “So many people had already gotten COVID-19 or had the vaccine.”

Asking about vaccination status has either been outwardly questioned or avoided completely by clergy, with a majority, on a national level, falling into the latter category. According to Pew Research Center data, over half of all U.S. religious attendees reported that clergy had not said much about the vaccine, whether it was to promote it or discourage people from receiving it.

Pastors Fulks, Quay and Wymer have all determined who in their congregation has received the vaccine, whereas The Tree Church and St. Peter’s Lutheran Church have not. The question “to ask or not to ask” spans across religions.

Laura Moskow Sigal, the executive director of Congregation Tifereth Israel in Columbus, said from the moment COVID-19 became serious, the synagogue shut down completely. All programs were completed online, and it was not until the spring of 2021 when in-person services were resumed in some way. Back to in-person services, Congregation Tifereth Israel does not shy away from the vaccination conversation. Every person is asked for proof of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine upon entering the building.

Although each house of worship experienced COVID-19 differently, St. Paul Lutheran Church, First Baptist Church, St. John’s Episcopal Church and Congregation Tifereth Israel shared worries about financial losses due to the pandemic. However, each received monetary donations from members that exceeded their most optimistic expectations.

“We actually saw money donations go up (during the pandemic),” Fulks said. “I think, initially, people were thinking … that there was going to be a huge need to care for people. Our designated benevolence fund tripled. People were giving thinking that we were going to have to help people, and we have helped people.”

As COVID-19 continues to become a major part of everyday life, religious services have

changed in one way or another. Although attendance numbers are inconsistent and services are not what they once were, Quay, Locascio, Wymer, Moskow Sigal, Fulks and Iser are uncertain as to what the future of religious gatherings look like but said it will work out in the end.

“It isn't all about us; it isn't all about what we do,” Locascio said. “God has kept the church alive despite what we did, not because of what we did. So, if God wants his church to live, we'll figure it out, and I think he does.”

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: COVID in church: Clergy still learning how to best serve congregations