‘God help us, we don’t want to kill anybody.’ Lexington church stays digital in surge
“Technical difficulties” caused a small delay in Sunday’s digital service for Gethsemane Lutheran Church, but the livestreamed broadcast went on anyway as it has for the last 20 Sundays.
The Lexington church has been holding its regular Sunday service over YouTube since March 15 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Pastor Laura Altman. The church’s leadership decided Wednesday to continue online services until at least Sept. 8, despite more than 70 percent of members wanting to return to in-person services.
“We did not want to put anyone at risk, especially those who are elderly or have higher risk factors,” Altman said. “It wasn’t an easy decision because we do have people that are seriously missing being at church.”
Gethsemane previously planned to resume its regular in-person services Sunday.
“The overwhelming concern was the spike in cases that’s happened,” said Jaci Williams, Gethsemane’s treasurer.
There have been 11,455 new cases reported in the month of July, according to state data. That makes up over one-third of all Kentucky cases.
On the same day that the church decided to postpone in-person services, Gov. Andy Beshear asked members of the Kentucky Council of Churches to forgo meeting in person for two weeks, according to Ken Gilbert, the council’s president. He’s also the pastor at Union Church in downtown Berea, and said his church hasn’t had an in-person service since Beshear declared a state of emergency on March 6.
Several other Lexington churches have returned to digital services or maintained them as an option with their in-person services. Southland Christian Church’s campuses are open for Sunday services with safety precautions, but the services are also offered online. Immanuel Baptist Church is doing the same thing. Tates Creek Christian Church decided to suspend its in-person services on July 26 and Aug. 2, opting to go virtual for those two weeks.
Despite limitations, virtual church turnout good
Williams said a survey of the congregation indicated the majority wanted the church to return to in-person services. She said the church had done a few outdoor services in the evenings with social distancing and mask guidelines enforced. Those services have been shorter. But turnout has been “lousy,” and those showing up are often in Kentucky’s at-risk population, she said.
“You probably have as good of participation online as we had actually coming to church and sitting in the pews before COVID-19,” Williams said.
The church had more than 80 people attending their Sunday services on average. Its YouTube streams range anywhere from 40 to almost 100 viewers each week. Williams said most attendees are married couples, so they’re probably watching together on the same device. The church had previously offered livestreamed services, but it’s now taking full advantage of the technology.
Williams said the church has a task force crafting guidelines to follow as members consider when to resume full in-person services as well as other events the church does with the community.
Altman said some people have come to appreciate the one-on-one feeling of her online sermons.
“They have a sense that I’m talking to them, more so than when they were within the community,” Altman said.
In addition to hosting services online, Altman said the church is doing Sunday school and kids book clubs digitally.
And church members can give offerings. The church offers a donation portal on its website through Tithe.ly
Some other churches were less willing to adapt to meet digitally amid the pandemic, and they violated Beshear’s early order that temporarily outlawed gatherings of more than 10 people and closed most businesses in Kentucky.
Two federal judges ruled on May 9 that Beshear had to allow church services to resume — as long as they followed guidelines — after First Tabernacle Baptist Church in Nicholasville sued the governor.
Beshear urged churchgoers to be cautious, and told churches to “take your time” reopening.
Williams said the congregation at Gethsemane is older.
“God help us, we don’t want to kill anybody,” she said.
Can other churches rely on virtual services?
Gethsemane isn’t the only church that got creative amidst the pandemic. Altman didn’t want to advise others what to do during the resurgence of cases in Kentucky.
“It works for us,” she said. “Other congregations might want to consider something like this as well, but they know their congregations better than we do.”
The digital approach hasn’t been without its limitations for the last 20 weeks. Some of the congregation doesn’t have access to the livestreams. Altman said the church makes the effort to send out paper material, including her sermon every week, and church members take responsibility to check up on each other. There are 16 households which rely on the paper materials, Altman said.
“It’s difficult being the church in this time,” she said. “With physical distancing, how do we maintain fellowship, how do we continue doing outreach in the community?”
This story was originally published July 27, 2020 at 3:30 PM.
CORRECTION: Jaci Williams’ name was spelled incorrectly in a previous version of this story.