One of the biggest Christian holidays of the year is here, but Christians worldwide are now honoring it differently.
Following orders to stay at home to reduce the spread of coronavirus, most churches are no longer allowed to meet in person or choose not to out of respect for their congregation’s health and safety. However, many pastors and their congregations have found alternatives to in-person corporate worship.
The majority of churches have gone online. Whether it’s a streaming on Facebook Live or podcasting, pastors are still finding ways to spread the good news.
For example, Southland Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, has a pre-existing online campus that is continuing to meet and has replaced in-person gatherings.
“We have an online campus that existed before COVID-19 changed our current ‘gathering’ approach,” said Nathan Head, the Executive Pastor of Ministries at Southland. “The online campus is our only campus [currently] meeting weekly, and thousands from our physical campuses are joining us at our online campus now.”
Southland will be hosting three services for Easter on Sunday, April 12.
Like Southland, Center Point Church in Lexington is also gathering online. They are streaming services from both of their campuses on their website and on Facebook. The church will stream services on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
In honor of Easter, they have made special plans. The church is having a drive-thru pickup at their east campus for church-goers to pick up pre-sealed communion crackers and juice, along with Easter egg hunt activities for children.
“If those pick-up times don’t work for you or you don’t feel comfortable, you can still participate,” said lead pastor Tim Parsons. “The egg hunt is available for download and print at cpclex.org/egghunt, and you can use extra juice and crackers from home to take the Lord’s Supper with us on Friday.”
Close to Asbury, Wilmore United Methodist Church has also made accomodations for church-goers since the coronavirus outbreak.
On Palm Sunday, members of the congregation in Wilmore honored the holiday by having a parade where they held the palm leaves out of their car windows, which allowed them to still continue tradition while also social distancing.
For Easter Sunday, the church will post a sunrise podcast. Their Easter worship service will be taking place on Facebook Live and will also be posted on YouTube.
Around the country and the world, churches everywhere are taking similar measures, allowing people to worship wherever they are. No matter where worshippers are or what they’re doing, churches are keeping practices alive and proving that the church is more than just a building.