NC churches are free to gather. But are congregations flocking to in-person services?
Debra Herring considers herself a child of God, but when it came to deciding whether she could safely attend worship services during a pandemic, she said, the State of North Carolina for weeks treated her like a 5-year-old.
Since a federal judge ruled in May that the state would have to allow gatherings at churches the same as it allowed them in other indoor spaces, her church, Cross Point Community in Knightdale, partially reopened its sanctuary for services. Herring has been there every Sunday since.
“When the service started back, we were just cheering,” Herring said in a phone interview with The News & Observer.
Before the pandemic, Herring said, Cross Point held two services each Sunday morning with a total attendance of up to 500 people.
When the church moved to online services at the end of March, Herring logged on and tuned in. The first week was fine, she said, because of the novelty.
After that, though, “I was not receiving what I was receiving before: being with other believers and the congregation, just that in-person feeling of, ‘We’re a group and we’re united.’”
Watching it on her phone or computer, she said, “You certainly do not get that. I felt very disconnected.”
Cross Point began holding services inside the church in June, and those who want to attend are asked to sign up in advance in order to keep attendance at or below 50% of capacity.
It’s different, Herring said, but for her it’s still a more spiritual experience than staring at a computer screen.
““I don’t feel like they should just throw the doors open and pack everybody in there and just go back to what it was,” she said. “But I do appreciate being treated as an adult, as if I can make that decision whether I’m comfortable to go or not go.
“If I’m not comfortable going, then I can stay home and watch it streamed online.”
Online or in-person church?
Mainline denominations still are advising churches to hold most services and events online via Zoom meetings, Google chats, or live Facebook, YouTube or website-based broadcasts.
But some churches in the Triangle and across North Carolina are holding modified in-person services.
Social-distancing rules are in place, but some members say being back in their normal worship space makes them feel a little closer to God, even if they’re still at least 6 feet from one another.
Churches, synagogues and mosques began closing down in March after COVID-19 appeared in North Carolina and started spreading. Gov. Roy Cooper later included them in an order that stopped large indoor gatherings.
But some believers balked, saying retail establishments were able to operate with more people indoors than were allowed in houses of worship. In May, several Christian groups filed a lawsuit claiming the restrictions placed on churches were unfair.
A federal judge agreed. Cooper said he would not appeal.
Officials of the United Methodist, Episcopal, Catholic and Lutheran churches still ask congregations not to organize gatherings of more than 10 people indoors or more than 25 outdoors, in keeping with guidance from the governor and state health experts. Baptist churches, which operate independently, share the guidance but note that congregations are free to decide.
Most denominations also have provided guidance on how to conduct remote worship and meetings, and recently have added information on how to go about “regathering” the flock when it’s safe to do so.
Some churches have held drive-in services, with believers sitting in their cars in a parking lot listening to their preacher and musicians through the FM radio.
Churches, synagogues and mosques that are holding events inside announce to those attending that they must wear masks and stay at least 6 feet from people outside their family group. They continue to stream the service for members who don’t feel comfortable coming to the building.
A challenge not to shake hands
New Hope Baptist Church in Raleigh began offering in-person worship on June 28, after about a month of discussions on how to go about it, Pastor Randy Carter said in a phone interview with The N&O.
“We anticipated our numbers would be much lower than normal, and they have been,” Carter said. Instead of two services on Sunday morning — one in the sanctuary and one in the fellowship hall — New Hope is now offering one service.
It’s held in the sanctuary, and there are rules: no going into other parts of the church, including the bathrooms unless it’s an emergency; masks are required and hand sanitizer is provided and its use encouraged; no contact with people outside your family group, including fist or elbow bumps; only soft singing and humming are allowed, to prevent heaving breathing; seating is at the direction of ushers, who will keep people at a safe distance from each other; every other pew is closed off with painter’s tape or rope; once seated, congregants stay put until the service is over; and they can’t linger when it’s done. Afterward, the building services manager sprays down the whole place with a leave-on sanitizer.
The no-touch rule is challenging for everyone, Carter said, including him.
“It’s muscle memory,” he said of the urge to shake the hands of old friends, hug them or touch an arm. “We have to remind people. We have to say it out loud every Sunday.”
Before the pandemic, Carter said, the church typically attracted about 300 people to worship on Sundays. Recent services have had about 75.
Those who came, Carter said, were warned ahead of time: You won’t be able to sit in your favorite spot.
“We don’t want to become one of those stories,” Carter said, “where you have this church that opened up and became a hot spot for infection.”
New Hope has planned its reopening in stages, with the idea to add some building access for meetings of small groups such as Sunday School classes or planning committees next.
It’s a lot of trouble to operate this way, but Carter said for some members, it’s worth it.
“Sometimes we overlook just how corporal our faith is,” he said. “We talk a lot about the spirit and the spiritual, but you can’t disembody the practices of the church easily. We have had to do that” during the pandemic, he said.
While watching the service over the internet, with the pastor in the sanctuary, is better than completely losing the corporal worship experience, Carter said there is something transcendent about being there in person.
“The physical space of a sanctuary, if it’s built well, tends to draw your mind and your spirit toward worship, completely different from how your living room does,” he said.
“Just being with other people. And the deep theology of the body of Christ just becomes a little more real than it is in the disembodied reality of Zoom or Facebook live.
“There is just something about bringing your body into the sanctuary and seeing your body next to other bodies and being reminded that we are together in one body of Christ.”
This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 2:46 PM with the headline "NC churches are free to gather. But are congregations flocking to in-person services?."
