As COVID restrictions ease, Columbus places of worship gather again. ‘Welcome home.’
Gary Stern, one of Columbus synagogue Temple Israel’s leaders, was hard at work in early June setting up a socially distanced space in the social hall for a general meeting.
Like most other places of worship in town, the temple closed its doors in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the meeting was originally planned to be held outdoors in open air, it was moved inside because of inclement weather.
Stern estimated just over 25 members would attend. Thirty-eight people showed up.
He looked at the members of the congregation who had not gathered inside the temple like this in over a year.
“Welcome home,” Stern said, before beginning the meeting. The next week, in-person Shabbat evening services returned.
Temple Israel and other places of worship across Columbus embraced technology as a way to continue worship during the pandemic. As vaccine distribution continues and COVID-19 cases decline, clergy across multiple religions are implementing long-term changes as they transition back to in-person services.
Streaming worship
Rabbi Beth Schwartz, of Temple Israel, said the as pandemic began, she emphasized the Jewish value of preservation of life as a way of encouraging the congregation to take the threat of the virus seriously.
“I could draw on our tradition to say, ‘this is how we view health risks,’” she said.
The onset of the pandemic was devastating for Rev. Reggie Williams and his congregation at South Columbus United Methodist Church. The congregation — accustomed to a vibrant atmosphere with passionate sermons and feeling the beat of gospel music in their bones — suddenly couldn’t come together.
Technology became their saving grace.
Williams began streaming his service on Facebook. Preaching to a camera was strange, but as time passed, their viewers online increased. At one point, South Columbus UMC had up to 1,000 people tuning in for their online services, he said.
Facebook, YouTube and Zoom became the meeting place for worship for many in Columbus in 2020. But there were challenges that were difficult to overcome.
“The isolation from each other — even though we had some Zoom (video) classes going on and so forth — I think that was the hardest part for all of us,” Pastor Dennis Lacy of North Highland Church said. “It was probably the hardest for me.”
Despite this drawback, the option of tuning in online resulted in higher attendance for places of worship.
Temple Israel streamed their regular services on Zoom and holiday services on YouTube. Schwartz said she was happy to see that many of their services had more views than they had members.
Across Muscogee County, 29% of residents are fully vaccinated and 33% have received at least one dose as of June 23, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.
Restrictions on in-person activities and mask mandates are being lifted as local officials and community leaders continue to gauge the data regarding new COVID-19 cases. These factors helped clergy determine how to safely bring their congregations back to in-person worship.
Return to Columbus sanctuaries
Although technology helped to fill gaps through the pandemic, safely returning to the sanctuaries was the eventual goal for many churches.
North Highland Church returned to in-person services last August, but kept online services as an option for the congregation. Members can Zoom videoconference into Bible study to participate with an in-person group. One Bible study leader, Keith Paul, said the blended classes will continue because of high interest.
“I don’t think it’s because of COVID-19,” Paul said. “I think it’s because of convenience.”
Lacy said returning to in-person services was challenging because of conflicting information from local, state and federal officials. They consulted with healthcare professionals on the church’s board to implement Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance to reopen.
Initially, a mask mandate was enforced and members had to get their temperature checked upon entry. North Highland Church also installed electrostatic filters throughout the building to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
As vaccine distribution has increased, restrictions have loosened in the church. The mask mandate is no longer enforced and there is less social distancing. Lacy said people are encouraged to do what they feel comfortable with and to respect others who may do things differently.
Temple Israel and South Columbus UMC waited longer to return to in-person services.
Williams’ congregation returned to in-person worship on Mother’s Day. Similar to North Highland Church’s initial protocols, people who have not been vaccinated are encouraged to wear masks and temperatures are checked at the door.
Temple Israel returned on June 11. Members who are not vaccinated are asked to wear masks, and attendees sit in small groups spaced out among the pews. Schwartz said full assessments of the building — determining occupant capacity and air filtration — were done ahead of time, as well as a thorough cleaning. Additionally, she said the congregation is encouraged to get vaccinated.
Moving forward with in-person worship
In-person attendance was initially down for the churches and synagogue as they reopened their doors. However, Lacy said attendance at North Highland is back up to about 75% of what it was pre-pandemic. At South Columbus, attendance is not back to Williams’ expectations, but there are still a large number of viewers attending online.
Williams knows there are members of the church that are apprehensive about joining in-person because of the virus, but expects in-person attendance to gradually increase over the coming weeks.
This would follow recent nationwide trends. According to Gallop, 20% of Americans attended in-person services and 10% attended virtually in May. But it’s the lowest attendance rate at religious services on record since Gallop began measuring it in 1939.
Religious leaders in Columbus hope to carry some of the creative ways they have utilized technology over the past year to continue reaching people going forward. Schwartz is retiring as rabbi at Temple Israel, but the incoming rabbi, Shmuel Polin, is interested in continuing offering online options for the synagogue, she said.
Both North Highland Church and South Columbus UMC also will continue to offer church services and content online.
“(The pandemic) really forced us to get very creative with sharing our message and connecting with each other,” Lacy said. “I think that was the positive thing going forth.”
On June 20, about a couple dozen people showed up in their Sunday clothes to South Columbus UMC. They listened to Williams deliver a passionate Father’s Day sermon, urging them to not be bystanders in life.
Fathers were acknowledged and given sweet potato pies in honor of the holiday. The musicians joked with Williams and praised him for his singing abilities. After the service, women were walked to their cars under umbrellas to avoid the rain.
They sang, they cried, they clapped and they laughed.
“I’m so grateful to be able to see their faces and to hear their laughter,” Williams said. “And to watch them as they express their love for God and worship by raising their hands and saying amen and singing.”
This story was originally published June 27, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
