St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Warman will welcome worshippers back on Sunday, June 14 for the first in-person service since COVID-19 restrictions were implemented in mid-March.
But it won’t be a full house.
“The province announced on June 8 that the limit on indoor gatherings is now 30 people,” said St. John’s Lutheran Church board chair Jason Schmiedge in an interview June 10. “So that will allow us to host our first service this coming Sunday. But we’ll be following the health guidelines, so that will mean a few adjustments.”
The church is taking pre-registration for the service to ensure it stays within prescribed limits.
“We can’t accommodate our entire congregation right now,” said Schmiedge. “But we are fortunate in that the way the church is laid out, we can have 30 people in the church sanctuary, plus another 30 people in the adjoining fellowship hall. The rooms are separated by a wall and a doorway, and there are separate entrances to each, so it’s like we have two buildings.
“We have speakers and a screen set up in the fellowship hall so everyone will be able to see and hear the service.”
Schmiedge said while many people are looking forward to returning to church, it will still be some time before things get back to normal. Singers will be wearing masks, there won’t be any hand-shaking or fellowship socializing after the service, and physical distancing will be mandatory.
“It will definitely be a different experience,” said Schmiedge. “But at the same time, I think it’s really important for people to be able to connect again with their church on a personal level.
“The world needs to have the voice of the church again, and feel the power of prayer and worship.”
He noted the church will continue to provide streaming online as an outreach for people who don’t have a home church or for those that can’t physically make it to church.
Another area church gearing up to begin live services is Osler Mission Chapel.
In an interview on June 10, Osler Mission Chapel Pastor Garry Wiebe said the 30-person limit for live services means the church, which has a congregation of about 450 members, will continue to rely heavily on online streaming.
However, he added, there will be services on Sunday, June 21 that will see people in the pews for the first time since mid-March.
“We have a fair size elderly population,” said Wiebe. “We want to honour those people, so we’re going to offer two services on Sunday, for about 24 or 25 folks 65 and older.”
For the past three months, the church’s four pastors have been pre-recording Sunday services that are streamed online. The Sunday services , beginning June 21, will screen the pre-recorded video in the church.
Wiebe said while the 30-person limit is a positive sign, the church won’t be able to really return to live services until it is allowed to operate at 50 per cent seating capacity.
“Once that happens, then we’ll be able to plan for two Sunday services, with half the congregation at each,” said Wiebe. “Anything less than that isn’t really practical.
“With a limit of 30 people, that doesn’t leave us very much wiggle room because we have such a large congregation.”
Wiebe said church members are definitely looking forward to restrictions being lifted and reconnecting with the rest of their church family, but added there have been positives coming out of the COVID-19 experience.
“We’re a lot more comfortable with technology now than we were a few months ago,” said Wiebe. “It’s good to challenge ourselves and step outside our comfort zone.”
For Martensville Baptist Church, the 30-person limit won’t mean a return to live services.
“The door has opened a crack and there’s a light shining through now, but in practical terms not much will change for us at this point,” said Martensville Baptist Church Pastor Aaron Dalman in an interview June 10. “Our church reaches out to about 550 people, and our average weekly attendance is about 400 people, so it would be impossible to accommodate everyone at that 30-person limit even if we held several services a week.
“So we’ll continue to rely on online services for now. As the restrictions ease over the coming months and the limit is raised to 100 or 150, then that will allow us to do live services on Sundays again.”
But, he added, the 30-person limit will make a difference for church Bible study classes and other smaller group gatherings at the church during the week.
“One thing that will change is we’ll have cars in the parking lot again,” said Dalman. “People won’t need to worry or get excited about seeing vehicles parked outside the church. All the groups will be under the 30-person limit.”
Dalman said in addition to the online services, the church is continuing with its outreach programs including phoning members of the congregation to maintain contact and support. The church is also open daily and welcomes visitors.
“A lot of people just want to drop by and touch base again,” said Dalman. “It’s nice to have the sound of voices in the church again.”