Pandemic changed how some approach worship

Julie Smith/News Tribune
As most area churches have closed to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, many parishes are quickly adjusting to accommodate their parishoners' needs and to that end, St. Peter Catholic Church is offering 'Priest on the Porch' from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Fr. Secrist took his 90-minute turn to sit out in Tuesday's cold and rainy weather to wait for whomever may wish to talk to a priest, say confession or for annointing of the sick. There is a second chair on the porch, a suitable distance from the priest's chair where one can sit, if they so choose and be heard by or converse with Fr. Secrist or Fr. Basil on the Parish Life Center porch, which is located next to St. Peter Church at 216 Broadway St.
Julie Smith/News Tribune As most area churches have closed to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, many parishes are quickly adjusting to accommodate their parishoners' needs and to that end, St. Peter Catholic Church is offering 'Priest on the Porch' from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Fr. Secrist took his 90-minute turn to sit out in Tuesday's cold and rainy weather to wait for whomever may wish to talk to a priest, say confession or for annointing of the sick. There is a second chair on the porch, a suitable distance from the priest's chair where one can sit, if they so choose and be heard by or converse with Fr. Secrist or Fr. Basil on the Parish Life Center porch, which is located next to St. Peter Church at 216 Broadway St.

Churches' adaptations to changes the COVID-19 pandemic brought about may determine how successful they are in reaching and serving communities in the future.

For many churches, changes will be permanent.

Most churches learned the value of offering online services early in the pandemic -- keeping congregations involved from home and maintaining their faith. But without in-person attendance and people dropping weekly tithes into collection baskets, churches had to find different ways to gather financial support from congregations.

Online giving grew.

Our Savior's Lutheran Church Pastor Scott Musselman said his church was blessed to be ahead of the curve. It was heavily focused on online giving before the pandemic, he said.

"We made that kind of a point some years ago -- to really encourage online giving," he said. "Back in the day, people talked about the summer slump. People went on vacations and all of a sudden churches had trouble paying the bills during the summer. Our people understood that churches have bills during the summer time."

Most of the people he serves make once-a-month donations to the church.

Because it was already focused on online giving, the church avoided financial challenges other churches may have faced.

Members of Second Baptist Church found blessings during the pandemic, according to the Rev. Cornell Sudduth Sr. He added the past two years have forever changed the church. The pandemic caught Second Baptist Church by surprise, he said. But it is adapting.

"During this pandemic, some churches didn't make it and had to close," Sudduth said. "We didn't have to close our doors. It evened itself out."

Revenue dipped, he said. But fewer people doing fewer activities at the church meant spending went down.

"Whatever money we received sufficed to get us through," he said.

Some church members sent in tithes through the mail. Meanwhile, the church shifted to accepting mobile payments through services, such as Cash App.

"We have a good, solid church that works together to support the church. Even those who watch on Facebook and online still give to the church because they know that our expenses carry on," Sudduth said.

The past 2 1/2 years were challenging at St. Peter Catholic parish, according to Father Jeremy Secrist.

"Something that has transformed because of what we've been through has been how we ask for our parishioners to contribute to the church," Secrist said, "how we ask them to be good stewards."

Secrist arrived at the church in February 2019. At that time, he said, the vast majority of St. Peter Church contributions were received in the Sunday collection basket.

"Because of COVID-19, there's been a transformation toward the use of modern technology that isn't solely reliant on the actual passing of a basket on Sunday morning," Secrist said. "To this point, we have't gone back to passing the basket."

He said a majority of parishioners now use credit cards or pay online.

He pointed out the contributions are more private that way. And, he said, when the basket was passed -- despite the diligence of staff putting collections in a safe -- there was always a concern about security of the contributions.

Some cash collections still occur, Secrist said.

"We are still very diligent after Mass of putting the collections in a safe. But there's much less of the worry and the angst of what would happen if somebody ran off with collection," he said.

The priest on the porch

The community has placed a focus on what's really necessary within the life of the parish, Secrist said.

"Here at St. Peter, we didn't totally close down," he said. "We continued having masses every day and every Sunday, but at greatly reduced numbers."

Many in the parish wished to continue having in-person interactions with their priests. The church, at 216 Broadway St., began offering "Priest on the Porch" availability. So, folks passing by on the sidewalk could have conversations with a priest without having close contact.

"It provides an opportunity to visit with the priest, or go to confession, or get a sacrament -- in a manner that isn't in a small space," Secrist said. "It has provided more public availability that maybe wouldn't have been thought about without COVID-19.

"It's my intention to do that into the future."

Secrist -- like many others -- had never heard of Zoom two years ago. But the pandemic forced the church to prioritize what meetings to hold and whom to include. About everybody in the parish learned to use Zoom, he said.

There are meetings today the parish still only conducts via Zoom.

"They don't take as long. It saves on gas. It saves on time," Secrist said. "And we can still see each other."

The pandemic forced St. Peter School to offer only online education for a time. Because of that, educators and students got Chromebooks.

So the school no longer needs its computer lab -- which is now freed up for a much-needed classroom, and students use their computers in the classrooms.

Some of the instructors are very experienced educators, Secrist said. They also had to learn how to prepare daily classes online.

Streaming the services

The most common change among area churches -- and the one that appears to have the most staying power -- was the move to streaming services. Streaming helped churches stay in contact with participants who couldn't attend because of the danger of gathering in crowds.

But it also provided a means to reach the homebound and people who have stepped back from churches, according to Father Louis Nelen, rector of the Cathedral of St. Joseph.

"Yes, the pandemic did push us to begin live streaming masses, and that practice will remain for those who are (ill) or homebound, so that they can feel a greater connection to their parish community," Nelen said. "However, many of the parishioners have returned in person and seem to be glad for the opportunity to share time together once again."

Greater participation

"I'm old-school," Sudduth said. "I believe people ought to be in church."

But he understands that many in his congregation are elderly and remain concerned about being in a crowd with others. And some would prefer just to participate from home.

"We live stream now, so people get to watch our services in their pajamas at home," Sudduth said.

And people who haven't been to services are finding the church, he said.

"We've picked up -- I think every church would say this -- they've picked up other people who can watch our church live or the next day," he said.

Our Savior's Lutheran had an online presence before the pandemic, Musselman said. And it saw an initial uptick in online interest.

"I don't think there's any question that the pandemic propelled all of us into the electronic age," Musselman said. "We were sort of dabbling, if you will. We all -- all of a sudden -- had to update our equipment to be adequate."

Now, churches are about as equipped to provide video services as anyone, short of a television studio.

"There's no question that technology is bittersweet. All sorts of doors have opened up," Musselman said. "But it can be frustrating when technology isn't quite working right."

There's no question the technology is great for people who are unable to go to church. And it's great for people may be traveling, he said.

Another useful plus to so many churches going online is they tend to give people considering churches a chance to shop around from home. That's an "enormous" change for people.

"You absolutely ... have to have an online presence," Musselman said. "A place for people to go see what you provide on Sunday morning. They can go check it out before they go to (the church)."

  photo  Julie Smith/News Tribune photo: Fr. Jeremy Secrist waves to a passing motorist from the porch of St. Peter Parish Life Center Tuesday while waiting for someone who may want to speak to a priest. As most area churches have closed to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, many parishes are quickly adaping to accommodate their parishoners' needs and to that end, St. Peter Catholic Church is offering 'Priest on the Porch' from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Fr. Secrist took his 90-minute turn to sit out in Tuesday's cold and rainy weather to wait for anyone who may wish to talk to a priest or to say confession. The priest can also annoint the sick, even if the individual may not want to or be able to get out of the vehicle. The Life Center located next to St. Peter Church at 216 Broadway St. in Jefferson City.