Church to resume in-person worship
One of the largest churches in the Memphis area plans to resume in-person worship the first weekend of June, following certain guidelines intended to limit the spread of COVID-19.
“When we get back together, things are going to look and feel differently than we’re used to, and that’s OK,” said the Rev. Steve Gaines, the church’s pastor, in a video update posted Thursday. “Our circumstances are changed, but our God is the same yesterday, today and forever.”
Bellevue Baptist Church, with an average Sunday attendance of about 8,000, is a flagship church of the Southern Baptist Convention. The church began holding live-streamed services only due to the novel coronavirus in mid-march.
Starting June 6 and 7, the church will resume in-person services with one worship service on Saturday and two on Sunday, Gaines said in an update posted online. The services will still be live streamed, and Gaines urged anyone who is sick or at high risk from COVID-19 to remain home and worship online.
The in-person worship services will practice social distancing between families in the worship center. Since no childcare will be offered, there will be a simultaneous family worship service in the fellowship hall.
On Sunday morning at 8:30, the church will also have a service in the gym where masks are required of all participants. Masks will be encouraged but not required at the other services, Gaines said.
The church is asking people to register for which service they plan to attend in order to aid with planning.
Katherine Burgess can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2799 or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.