In the midst of a pandemic, churches show they are more than a building

The COVID-19 pandemic has left all of us separated from our families, friends and co-workers.

But as River City Church lead pastor Damian McCrink will remind his congregation during his online Easter service on Sunday, because of God’s love, we are never alone.

“Because of what Christ did on the cross, he comes into walls within us now,” said McCrink, lead pastor of the St. Charles church. “Even when we feel alone, even when we feel isolated, even when we feel like we are social distanced from everyone, there is a God that has not distanced himself from us. And we are not alone through this.”

The pre-produced service will be accessible at 10 a.m. Sunday on the church’s Facebook page and its YouTube channel. Those watching the service shouldn’t be surprised to see one or two of their fellow members.

“We had church members submit videos of themselves saying, ‘Happy Easter,’ ‘’ McCrink said. “We want to have people see more than my face and the faces of the worship team. We are just putting that together of all these videos coming in of families in their front yards saying ‘Happy Easter,’ creating that community feel.”

The church has a strong online presence these days. River City Church holds online community groups and the church’s children’s director, Maddy Manden, posts daily videos on the church’s Facebook page.

As the pandemic continues, McCrink said there have been more and more questions centered around God.

“A lot of people are asking questions about God and wondering where’s God is in all of this,” he said. “And a lot more people are starting to pray. So we want to be there for people as they are asking the questions.”

Christ Community Church in St. Charles will have online Easter services at 5 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 9 and 11 a.m. Sunday. The services will be accessible at ccclife.org/live.

Christ Community Church senior pastor Jim Nicodem said the online worship services are reaching thousands of people.

“Last weekend, we saw 9,800 views of our service, which was just crazy,” Nicodem said.

The church’s community groups also have moved online.

“Some of them are men’s groups, women’s groups and couples groups,” he said. “We’ve also got small groups for students. This kind of a thing doesn’t stop us.”

Nicodem noted that during the COVID-19 outbreak, “not only are we seeing physical death, but we’re seeing the death of dreams and we’re seeing the death of our way of life.”

However, he said that Jesus’ resurrection can give us all hope.

“We can have hope in the midst of kind of a scary world,” Nicodem said.

One of the things that he misses the most about physically being separated from his congregation is shaking people’s hands before each service.

“My style is that before every service, I’m walking up and down rows in our big auditorium and I am shaking hands and hugging and listening to people and engaging them in conversation,” Nicodem said. “I love that. I miss that terribly. I’m a tactile person. But I am super glad for the opportunities I have online to prayer for people and to stay in contact with people.”

The hundreds and even thousands who are gravitating back towards religious services online may agree they’re not alone, especially in these unprecedented times.

“In my experience, we’re reaching people who have kind of walked away from the church,” Pastor Kurt Gamlin, of the First United Methodist Church in McHenry. “Others in the congregation are looking, saying, ‘Oh, look at so and so, we haven’t seen her at church.’”

Around 18,000 watch live each weekend at all eight of Willow Creek Community Church locations, 4,000 watch at The Church of Holy Apostles in McHenry, and about 500 at First United Methodist Church in McHenry.

“We actually have more people going to daily mass now than we did when people would typically come,” said Father Paul White, of The Church of Holy Apostles in McHenry.

Area churches are taking initiatives to move worship online to ensure the community doesn’t miss out on Easter traditions and religious services.

Willow Creek will be live-streaming Easter services on WillowCreek.TV at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday and 9 and 11:15 a.m. on Sunday. The church online platform features live chat and prayer so the congregation can engage in the service together. Willow Creek will also be streaming a message of hope on CBS at 11 a.m. on Sunday, April 12 that includes some of their favorite worship and teaching moments. Other events include Easter Jam for Kids with music and interactive illustrations and a Thursday Tenebrae Service.

Going online doesn’t mean White won’t see congregants for mass services on Easter. White is filling the church benches of photos of families to see at Resurrection Sunday Mass on April 12. The Church of Holy Apostles will do a blessing video on Palm Sunday and a Veneration of the Cross on Friday. The Church also posted a feet washing video Thursday. The Church will also host a Easter basket blessing livestream Saturday morning at 11 a.m.

While many are tending to online worship, religious services and holidays won’t be the same for many.

“Because we receive Jesus in the body and blood and communion, people really miss that, because they miss out on communion. That’s the part that really hurts Catholic faith,” White said. “People miss the human touch. Thanking each other, hugging each other. That’s the hard part to replicate.”

Despite losing the physical touch of the Church, many have gotten closer to the Church, White said.

“They’ve responded to my pleas for finances in a way I didn’t expect. Like, today I’m going to ask them to bring certain cans of foods that we can’t get from the Northern Illinois food, and they’ll respond to that. So in some ways, we’re a tighter community, because we have to work at it,” he said.

By hosting virtual coffee hours, children book readings and lives focused on “silly, and interesting” topics like top 10 movie quotes, Gamlin is showing how, despite the drawbacks, the Church can still be the center of community.

Willow Creek Community Church’s Good Friday Experience on Willow Creek TV reminds worshippers that “More than ever, the fact that we are the Church (not a building, or a leader, or a service) is reflected in our reality.”

“We know that the church is not a building, but about a body of believers, and we are continuing to seek ways to worship, experience community and serve our neighbors. While we are unable to meet physically, we are gathering for church online at WillowCreek.TV, experiencing small groups on various video platforms, lifting one another up in prayer, and meeting needs in the community, like providing food assistance, through our Care Center,” Willow Creek spokesperson Liz Schauer said.

Although Easter will be different, a message from Willow Creek’s Pastor Steve Gillen reminds the community their hope in Christ remains unchanged.

“I encourage you to focus your attention on the things we can do rather than the things we can’t. We can worship freely; we can celebrate our risen King together. We can invite, encourage, and share our faith in new ways,” Gillen wrote in the community-wide message.

Source: The Daily Chronicle