Coronavirus

Churches adapt to having religious services online

ELKINS -- With the Easter weekend upon us, several Elkins churches have been adapting to the social distancing procedures recommended to minimalize the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Among churches getting creative during this time of physical separation is the Elkins Family Worship Center, where drive-in services have been offered for the last few weeks.

"The drive-in church has been very successful for us; we set up outside and practice social distancing when we park the cars," said Pastor Jamie Estep.

EFWC is also connecting with churchgoers via Facebook live on Wednesday nights at 7 p.m.

"The past few Sundays, we have done that at 11 and 1 o'clock," noted Estep, adding that he is posting to Facebook live at least one additional time during the week.

"We're making regular calls out to our congregation, which have a devotion-type message and a few announcements."

"My greatest prayer is that we the church -- and throughout America -- is that we try to bring a sense of normal. The days that we're (currently) living in are very different, and just in simply being different, it creates difficulty," said Estep. "We're trying our very best to allow believers to have a sense of normal," he said.

First United Methodist Church in Elkins is doing livestream services every Sunday at 11 a.m. on both YouTube and Facebook, while Pastor Brian Seders is vlogging Monday through Friday from 12:15 to 12:30 p.m.

"We're mailing sermons to those who don't do internet every week, and we're also staying in touch with those who have email by sending them sermons as well as additional communications," Seders told the Inter-Mountain.

"Right now, I think faith matters more than ever, but so does wisdom," said Seders. "I would just encourage the community to trust in a higher power -- preferably, in my case, from the Christian perspective and Jesus Christ -- but to also be wise in their approach to being good stewards of staying safe and protecting one another."

"This too shall pass; it might require some very stiff challenges for us, and in some cases, some people may be hurting greatly. I would encourage us to hang in there and to check on one another (while observing) social distancing practices," he said.

Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church in Elkins is continuing its radio broadcast on WDNE on Sunday mornings at 11 a.m.

"We're encouraging all of our people and anybody else who doesn't have a church to listen to our services on Sunday mornings," said Marcia Gardner, DMPC secretary.

She said the church is still creating its weekly bulletins and mailing them to church members. The information is also available to view on the church's website alongside monthly newsletters.

"We're keeping in touch with our people," said Gardner.

Summit Church in Elkins now livestreams its Sunday morning service.

"We do pretty much everything we do during a normal service; it's just kind or streamlined during the live stream through Facebook," said Hal Boehm, lead pastor at Summit, adding that different staff members also do regular videos with encouraging words that are posted close to every other day.

"We also have small connect groups. Every connect group has a leader, so we're encouraging them to continually reach out via phone, text and social media to connect with one another," said Boehm, adding that Summit's children's pastor is doing regular teachings on Facebook live several times a week, while youth pastors are connecting with youth via Zoom.

"We're using as much of the multimedia, social media and technology as we can that we have right now," he said.

Boehm stated that churchgoers at Summit are being encouraged to look out for and support those who need help during this time.

"We're trying to figure out who is in our church that may be isolated or doesn't have family; (we're) trying to stay connected with them as well," he said, also noting that last week's Feed the City event fed approximately 225 people in the community in need of meals.

"It was a to-go type of deal (...) It worked well because nobody congregated; they just picked up their meals and went," he said.

"We also have a food pantry connected with the USDA, and we give out food monthly. This next month, they're going to send the all the food in a contained box already sealed. So, we'll take the food out to the cars and give it to people that way so there's no contact," said Boehm.

"We're still trying to be a light and reach out to our community."

Sunday worship services for Orlena United Methodist Church, Highland Park United Methodist Church and Mercy Chapel United Methodist Church will be combined online via Zoom in order to allow a social connection. In order to access the Zoom service on Sunday at 11 a.m., use meeting ID 282-928-0962.

"We're a social creature; we're so socially-oriented, and this social distancing has just been beyond my scope to figure out how to overcome that," said Paul Thompson, pastor of all three churches. "We're trying to worship and to have that social element."

Though First Baptist Church of Elkins is currently closed, churchgoers may stay connected through the church's Facebook and website.

"We're putting newsletters and mock bulletins up on our website with things that would've normally happened and messages from the pastor," said Evelyn Lange, administrative assistant at First Baptist.

"The only thing we have operational right now is our food pantry for the homeless and the needy," said Lang. "We have quite a number of homeless and people in need who are clients of ours and use the food pantry."

"Hopefully, we can reopen soon," said Lange. "We're just going about it week to week and trying to keep in touch with our community."

Pastor Julie Davis of Otterbein United Methodist Church in Elkins and Phillips Chapel in Jimtown is utilizing various media in order to stay connected with the Christian community.

"We are utilizing YouTube sermons and worship services in order to connect with our people for everyone that has internet access," Davis said, noting the churches are also utilizing prayer chains weekly to communicate with those who do not have internet access.

"We have a call list of people that are checking on each other and making sure that especially the elderly and those with preexisting medical conditions that can't get their own groceries have everything that they need," she said.

Links to the YouTube sermons are available on the church's Facebook page and at otterbeinelkins.org.

In addition to online Sunday worship services, Davis has begun posting an additional video experience titled "The Word on Wednesday," which includes both a scripture and reflection in place of Otterbein's Wednesday night bible study.

"Of course, it's open to everybody," Davis said.

Davis stated that help is being offered if anyone in the Randolph County community is in need of food.

"We don't have a food pantry at Otterbein or at Phillips Chapel, but people that run out of food can contact me via email at pastorjuliedavis@gmail.com, and if they have a need for food, arrangements can be made to help them," she said.