Keeping the faith

■ With Easter on Sunday, area churches are adjusting to pandemic.

Siloam Springs churches are turning to unique methods to continue serving their congregations amid the covid-19 pandemic and orders to congregate in groups of 10 or fewer.

Many churches have begun offering streaming services on social media platforms such as Facebook

and YouTube. One church, 412 Fellowship, had its first drive-in service on Sunday where people can come, park, worship and hear a message, according to Wayne Pope, church pastor.

Church members will remain inside their vehicles in the parking lot during the church service, he said. Pope and a worship team will be on an outdoor stage to sing and deliver the message, he said.

Twenty vehicles showed up for the service last Sunday and everybody was happy to see each other even if it was from a distance, Pope said. The church uses their sound system for the service, Pope said. The speakers are powerful enough to reach U.S. Highway 412, church members just need to have their windows down in order to understand what’s being said, he said.

The worship team is also broadcasting the service on Facebook for those who do not wish to attend the drive-through services, Pope said.

Pope said he got the idea from Shari DeVor, a member of his worship team, as well as other churches around the country trying

similar services. Pope said the church will continue to have drive-in services as long as the weather is nice.

“It’s important for people to maintain some sort of scheduled events,” Pope said. “It keeps some stability.”

Virtual church

Most churches are opting for online worship services, and several churches in Siloam Springs have transitioned to this platform.

The Assembly was already streaming their services on Facebook before the pandemic, so the church just expanded it, according Gary Wheat, church pastor.

There haven’t been many problems, Wheat said.

“We have one lady who is in her 90s who got Facebook to keep up with the church and services,” Wheat said.

New Life Church also has been streaming their services online, according to Tim Estes, senior pastor. Estes encourages members to sing along and respond at home, he said.

On Sunday, Estes held a Holy Communion service. He invited members to use elements already on hand to represent the blood and the body and follow along while Estes led the service online. Estes does not have the total number of members who participated, but he said comments were positive.

“It was very successful from what I can see,” he said.

First Baptist Church also started utilizing Facebook and YouTube to broadcast worship service, said Steve Abbott, senior pastor.

“It’s not the same, but we have found a way to stay together,” Abbott said.

Community Christian Fellowship (CCF) is using Church Online Platform in addition to Facebook and YouTube to broadcast their services, according to Mark Gumm, associate pastor.

This platform allows for live streaming, but it also allows the church body to interact on a more personal level by offering live chat as well as a private prayer chatroom with the pastor, Gumm said.

“We don’t have the exact measurements,” Gumm said. “But we have seen higher engagement numbers.”

Gumm said this platform allows people outside of Siloam Springs to participate, such as church missionaries in other countries, people who have moved away and those looking for a church. Church services are being watched by people in Asia and Russia, he said.

Sager Creek Community Church uses Boxcast, which allows church members to stream to the church’s app, website, Facebook Live and YouTube, according to Kyle Weir, associate pastor.

“We’ve gotten good feedback,” Weir said.

The online services have not been popular with all churches though. Father Salvador Marquez-Munoz, pastor at St. Mary Catholic Church, said this method has not caught on with all of his parishioners because some people don’t have Facebook or have difficulty using the internet.

“It is not that popular, but we are all adjusting to the current circumstances,” he said.

Due to covid-19 precautions and restrictions Catholics are dispensed from attending Mass on Sundays or the Special Solemnities Days and are also dispensed from Holy Communion, he said.

Holy Communion is not a weekly requirement, but is offered and received by those who are spiritually prepared to receive Sacramental Communion, Marquez-Munoz said.

Impacting Ministries

One of the biggest hurdles churches now face is ministering to people when they cannot actually be around people.

“We don’t have our Wednesday Awana groups,” Abbott said. “Our children’s ministry is doing some of it online.”

Abbott said this has affected many church groups, including men’s, women’s and senior’s Bible study. First Baptist Church’s preschool is also closed because of the pandemic, Abbott said.

For some pastors the hardest part is not being able to see the people.

“Basically a pastor is a shepherd,” Wheat said. “So it’s like a shepherd being separated from his flock.”

Wheat said the church does try to call members of the congregation to check in and if someone needs food, members of the church will go shopping for them.

Marquez-Munoz said it is quite challenging to minister to people without having public gatherings. He has not met with anyone at this point unless there is an emergency need for the Anointing of the Sick with proper safety measures, along with Sacramental Confession and Absolution, Marquez-Munoz said.

“No one was prepared for this event,” he said. “But we adjust to the change of events to the best of our human ability.”

Weir said Sager Creek is using the youth group to help older people with their yard work. Weir said this activity not only helps the elderly, but allows members of the youth group to interact with their friends at a socially safe distance.

Small groups at churches such as CCF, First Baptist Church, and New Life Church meet on Zoom.

“Most of our groups are 20 members or less,” Estes said. “So you can get 20 people on the app.”

Plans for Easter

As Easter approaches, some churches are looking at doing something special.

Abbott said First Baptist Church is planning an online Good Friday service where members will submit music and then end with a devotional.

Abbott is also encouraging members to have their own solitary Sunrise Services then submit a photo of the sunrise and of them reading the word.

CCF plans on having its Easter service online as well as having an mobile Easter egg/scavenger hunt the Saturday before Easter, Gumm said. Church members will place a paper mache egg on their front doors for families to drive around and try to find, according to Wes Horton, children’s pastor. The guidelines for the Easter egg hunt are located on CCF’s main Facebook page or the Facebook kid’s page, Horton said.

Sager Creek Community Church will offer a mobile egg hunt and a live stream of the Easter service as well as a live kid’s worship service, Weir said. The church will email Easter eggs for kids to color and then display them in the windows of their homes for people to drive around and find, Weir said.

Wheat said he is considering his own drive-in service for Easter. He said people will have to stay in their cars. Wheat said he also wanted to have an outdoor service where everyone can meet, but still stay within the guidelines of the city.

“We thought for Easter it would help the spiritual morale,” Wheat said.

Marquez-Munoz said he plans to continue to offer the same live-streaming Mass as they have been doing lately on Sundays.

“Online services will never be the same that being actively present in celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,” MarquezMunoz said. “But under the circumstances we offer what we can at this point, and people participate spiritually in it.”

Words of encouragement

The churches are trying to remain upbeat. So far, people are doing their best in following the guidelines, Marquez-Munoz said.

The priest encourages the community to embrace these challenging times with faith, courage, responsibility and sensitivity towards others.

Estes said to look for the best in one another by being our brother’s keeper.

“Let’s reach out to our neighbors, particularly the elderly and vulnerable,” Estes said.

He added during this time Christians are learning to self-feed on the word of God and the community will be stronger for it.

Wheat said there is a season for everything. This season will end and his congregation will be the better for it, he said.

“It’s caused the church to be the church outside these four walls,” Wheat said.

Weir said this is a unique time for people to focus on eternal things and to think about how God can best use them for his purpose.

“Anytime you have a season of suffering it allows us to grow closer to Him,” Weir said.

Abbott has been trying to encourage people to use this time to reflect on what’s most important in their lives and their relationship with God. He added God was not taken by surprise and knows what’s happening.

“If we continue to look to him he will lead us through it,” Abbott said.