What is your church doing for services during the COVID-19 outbreak?

[appleman2006]

We are simply having the message available for all to listen to at their homes. We also have an active google group where people can stay in touch. So far people have been using that with both causal light messages and much more serious. I like that as it is exactly the way we woudl interact if we were together.

[JimFoxvog]

A very small group of people will create a worship service this Sunday. Then, the Willow Springs Worship Service will be available on our website only.

There will be no worship services in our building until further notice.
https://willowspringsmennonite.church/worship-services/

It seems like there will just be a worship show to listen to. Several families are meeting together in smaller groups informally.

[barnhart]

I just listened to a report from Pakistan on high attendance at Mosques for friday prayers. Through a translator the attendee explained that it is important to go because failure to do so would cause God to be angry and because God will hear prayers in the Mosque. It made me grateful for Jesus.

[knotdust]

We have taken a 2 week break from all church services. During that time we as the sound techs and leadership team will be exploring options for broadcasting messages for spiritual nourishment if this goes into April or longer.

I have an almost 93 year old mother that we are trying to keep from any infection so anything we can do to keep her from getting being exposed we want to do. The hours get long for her and she so looks forward to Sunday's worship services.

[Wade]

Probably not going to make any friends saying this...

I understand taking precautions.
I agree with being careful.
I want nothing to do with passing potential harm to others because of my negligence.
I don't think I am a careless type of person that takes undue risks but does a lot of thinking.

But I cannot imagine for one second Jesus, the early church or the early Anabaptists forsaking fellowship on Sunday for almost any reason - especially a recommendation from the government - or even the worlds deadliest disease.

It's one thing to actually be sick and miss church but to shut church right down for everyone who isn't sick?

Where is faith in stepping into the impossible for Christ like some in the early church being eaten by lions, or some of the Anabaptists being burned to death? Yet we cannot even meet together because currently 11,397 deaths have happened with 275,784 confirmed cases... 4.1%

I am not trying to condemn anyone or make deaths of people not important but I am wondering - I am asking myself about my own faith - am I willing to die for Christ?

If the early Christians knew the potential was about 20% if they were caught gathering together and then they would be fed to lions would they have not gathered together?

If the early Anabaptists knew the potential was about 5% if they were caught gathering together and they would be burned would they have not gathered together?

[Judas Maccabeus]

I just listened to a report from Pakistan on high attendance at Mosques for friday prayers. Through a translator the attendee explained that it is important to go because failure to do so would cause God to be angry and because God will hear prayers in the Mosque. It made me grateful for Jesus.

In the Gulf, they closed the mosques, in the case of my former location, they used the Eid yard, a large open air mosque.

J.M.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Probably not going to make any friends saying this...

I understand taking precautions.
I agree with being careful.
I want nothing to do with passing potential harm to others because of my negligence.
I don't think I am a careless type of person that takes undue risks but does a lot of thinking.

But I cannot imagine for one second Jesus, the early church or the early Anabaptists forsaking fellowship on Sunday for almost any reason - especially a recommendation from the government - or even the worlds deadliest disease.

It's one thing to actually be sick and miss church but to shut church right down for everyone who isn't sick?

Where is faith in stepping into the impossible for Christ like some in the early church being eaten by lions, or some of the Anabaptists being burned to death? Yet we cannot even meet together because currently 11,397 deaths have happened with 275,784 confirmed cases... 4.1%

I am not trying to condemn anyone or make deaths of people not important but I am wondering - I am asking myself about my own faith - am I willing to die for Christ?

If the early Christians knew the potential was about 20% if they were caught gathering together and then they would be fed to lions would they have not gathered together?

If the early Anabaptists knew the potential was about 5% if they were caught gathering together and they would be burned would they have not gathered together?

This is only a temporary situation. In the historical cases you mentioned it was anything but temporary.

J.M.

[Wade]

Probably not going to make any friends saying this...

I understand taking precautions.
I agree with being careful.
I want nothing to do with passing potential harm to others because of my negligence.
I don't think I am a careless type of person that takes undue risks but does a lot of thinking.

But I cannot imagine for one second Jesus, the early church or the early Anabaptists forsaking fellowship on Sunday for almost any reason - especially a recommendation from the government - or even the worlds deadliest disease.

It's one thing to actually be sick and miss church but to shut church right down for everyone who isn't sick?

Where is faith in stepping into the impossible for Christ like some in the early church being eaten by lions, or some of the Anabaptists being burned to death? Yet we cannot even meet together because currently 11,397 deaths have happened with 275,784 confirmed cases... 4.1%

I am not trying to condemn anyone or make deaths of people not important but I am wondering - I am asking myself about my own faith - am I willing to die for Christ?

If the early Christians knew the potential was about 20% if they were caught gathering together and then they would be fed to lions would they have not gathered together?

If the early Anabaptists knew the potential was about 5% if they were caught gathering together and they would be burned would they have not gathered together?

This is only a temporary situation. In the historical cases you mentioned it was anything but temporary.

J.M.

So do you think if the government told Jesus, the early Christians or the early Anabaptists to temporarily not gather together - they would have submitted to that? - I don't.

Keep in mind if someone is sick or even quarantined or changed by gathering in small groups I am not saying that these people would have not done that - but shutting all gatherings down altogether... Maybe I am wrong but I personally cannot imagine them shutting down altogether. Even if they had Skype...

[Admiral Acbon]

Currently, our governor's limit is 10 (or is it 9?) with an exception for churches. In other words, we could meet as an entire body without any legal repercussions. However, last Sunday our leadership encouraged the sick and those aged 60+ to stay home for both the morning and evening services and watch the livestream. The evening program (presented by the EBI chorus) was in limbo but eventually went ahead.

Our Wednesday evening prayer meeting was canceled this week, along with a womens' gathering. A baby shower was postponed.

This coming Sunday we're expected to stay home and watch a livestream (From a pastor's home? Presented by the pastors from the church building itself? Who knows?) at the following link. The evening's house fellowships are canceled.

https://www.unitedbethel.com

[Szdfan]

Probably not going to make any friends saying this...

I understand taking precautions.
I agree with being careful.
I want nothing to do with passing potential harm to others because of my negligence.
I don't think I am a careless type of person that takes undue risks but does a lot of thinking.

But I cannot imagine for one second Jesus, the early church or the early Anabaptists forsaking fellowship on Sunday for almost any reason - especially a recommendation from the government - or even the worlds deadliest disease.

It's one thing to actually be sick and miss church but to shut church right down for everyone who isn't sick?

Where is faith in stepping into the impossible for Christ like some in the early church being eaten by lions, or some of the Anabaptists being burned to death? Yet we cannot even meet together because currently 11,397 deaths have happened with 275,784 confirmed cases... 4.1%

I am not trying to condemn anyone or make deaths of people not important but I am wondering - I am asking myself about my own faith - am I willing to die for Christ?

If the early Christians knew the potential was about 20% if they were caught gathering together and then they would be fed to lions would they have not gathered together?

If the early Anabaptists knew the potential was about 5% if they were caught gathering together and they would be burned would they have not gathered together?

This is only a temporary situation. In the historical cases you mentioned it was anything but temporary.

J.M.

One of the major sources for the outbreak in South Korea was the Shincheonji religious group in Daegu.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytime ... 0p19G=2870

The outbreak has centered on Daegu, a city of about 2.5 million in the country’s southeast, after a 61-year-old Shincheonji congregant — known as Patient No. 31 — is believed to have infected many other worshipers during services. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that as of Saturday, 63.5 percent of all confirmed cases in the country were “related to Shincheonji.”

Recently, there was another cluster of coronavirus in South Korea related to a church service:

https://www.foxnews.com/world/coronavir ... sinfectant

A new cluster of coronavirus has emerged at a church in South Korea after members used a saltwater spray -- which they believed prevented the spread of the virus -- but used the same spray bottle on members without properly disinfecting the nozzle, health officials acknowledged Monday.

Officials in the city of Seongnam, located in the Gyeonggi Province south of Seoul, said 40 additional members of the River of Grace Community Church have tested positive for COVID-19 after six members, including the pastor and his wife, were confirmed in the past week to have the virus.

I think it’s one thing to choose to die for Christ. I think it’s another thing to put other people at risk of needlessly dying “for Christ” because we “have to” have a church service. I think holding church services in the midst of a pandemic in which there is risk of infecting vulnerable people is a form of negligence.

This isn’t persecution. This isn’t forever. Churches have a responsibility to keep their congregants safe.