Keeping the faith: Amid uncertainty, communities find new ways to worship

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Amid social distancing and the shuttering of schools, libraries, restaurants, barbers, salons and other locations as part of the effort to control the spread of COVID-19, Rhode Islanders’ worlds have become decidedly smaller.

In a time of such uncertainty, many Ocean State residents are turning to their faith – but houses of worship, too, are subject to restrictions on large gatherings.

As a result, faith community leaders have been charged with finding ways to continue to serve families in a safe and healthy ways – and in some cases, to reach out to congregants in ways they never have.

Religious leaders all over the state have been forced to become more responsive, more technologically savvy, and to think far outside the box in order to continue to minister to their congregations.

The Rev. Barbara DaCosta, pastor of Oaklawn Community Baptist Church, is in the midst of formulating a plan.

“Right now,” she said, “we’ve been taking it from week to week. We’ve all been communicating with one another on the phone, texting, emailing, and utilizing the website a little bit.”

“I know people are missing the physical presence of one another and it’s hard for them,” she continued. “And I’m a pastor who’s very involved in visiting people, seeing them in the nursing home and hospitals. And I can’t do that right now.”

DaCosta is hoping to begin utilizing the church’s website more. She also has an eye on sprucing up the church’s Facebook page and experimenting with sharing services online.

The Rev. Andrea Castner Wyatt of St. David’s on-the-Hill Episcopal Church has been holding parishioner meetings on Zoom and livestreaming services on Facebook Live.

“We’re very much learning as we go,” she said. “There’s no roadmap for this.”

Castner Wyatt explained that she’s keeping in contact with her entire congregation via telephone as well, calling each registered family to check in and attempting to identify any needs.

“I am keeping a log,” she said. “I put a check mark next to each one I call. And I call them because I want to make sure we don’t have anybody slip through the cracks.”

When asked if the church will hold up financially during this indeterminate hiatus, Castner Wyatt said she believes it will. She is attempting to bolster a discretionary fund that may help congregants through some of the inevitable difficulties of sheltering at home.

Castner Wyatt is both hopeful and excited about new ways of reaching parishioners.

“I think we have to be OK with being incredibly flexible,” she said. “We have to change our entire way of being in ministry. And I think we are doing it.”

Castner Wyatt stated she was pleasantly surprised with the diversity of congregants connecting with the church online.

“One of the fascinating things for me is watching how quickly people adapt and how people are trying out new technologies,” she said. She intends to carry the new shift to virtual worship forward even after it becomes safe to meet again, describing this new way of connecting as a “hidden blessing.”

Other churches, such as Solid Rock Church and Our Lady of Grace in Johnston, have opted for outdoor preaching – via speakers, sound systems or radio frequencies – to congregants in their cars nearby.

Pastor Richard Leahey of Solid Rock Church has decided to provide a sermon with music for his congregation from the parking lot.

“People can stay in their cars,” he said, “and just enjoy the worship.”

He also explained that he is experimenting with Facebook Live, and hopes to stream, if not record and present later, his weekly message. He has insisted on keeping his worship team involved as well, in order to continue providing unique, uplifting music.

Leahey felt positive about his plan and said his congregation was looking forward to getting together.

“They’re kind of excited about just being in the parking lot,” he said, “and just, in a sense, being together. Build each other up in faith and worshipping, and hearing the Word, and then going out into the world.”

Father Peter Gower of Our Lady of Grace Church in Johnston was successful in sharing his message outdoors during the past weekend’s Masses.

He said his inspiration for a “drive-thru Mass” came to him in the middle of the night. He envisioned delivering Mass via an FM signal, the same way one would broadcast sound at the drive-in. Later that day, he purchased an FM transmitter, and spread the word that he would be holding mass from the church parking lot. Parishioners would park and listen to his message via FM channel 90.1.

His unique spin on Mass caught the eye of WPRI’s Mike Montecalvo, and soon the entire state was aware.

“On Saturday night, we had 156 cars in the parking lot, and on Sunday morning at 10 o’clock, we had 160-165,” he said. “We calculated, and we estimate about 650 people were in attendance. We livestreamed as well, and over 4,000 people have been watching that.”

“But the most beautiful thing,” Gower added, “was at the end of Mass, the beeping of horns for a steady three minutes was just – it brought me to tears. And that there was real joy that they were able to experience during a time when they’re not feeling joyful at all.”

Gower said he had faithful from Warwick, Newport, Connecticut and Massachusetts in attendance, and some took part from even further away via the church’s Facebook page. After it was done, he said, worshippers “even drove over and put checks inside my mailbox.”

Through the joy, though, concerns arise, as is the case with most worship communities right now, in the area of finances.

“The other side of this whole thing is a financial problem,” Gower said. “We were blessed. I’ve been blessed. We’ve seen financial health that people are giving online, that people are giving, sending in their budgets. We’re staying pretty much right as we have.”

Though it’s too early to tell, it seems churchgoers are responding quite positively to new ways of worship. And local worship communities may stand to strengthen their relationships with one another, and the world-at-large, via services shared online. Via apps and programs such as online giving, pastors may be able to continue to share their messages until the climate of safety returns.

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