Cautious Churches Close Again After Being Open for Several Weeks

At least two churches have closed their doors again after reopening at the end of April/beginning of May. Since the reopenings, several people affiliated with Holy Ghost Church in Texas and Catoosa Baptist Tabernacle in Georgia have tested positive for COVID-19, and one church leader has passed away in what might have been a virus-related death.

“Our hearts are heavy as some of our families are dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 virus, and we ask for your prayers for each of them as they follow the prescribed protocol and recuperate at home,” Catoosa Baptist said in a statement, as reported by an ABC News affiliate. “Though we feel very confident of the safe environment we are able to offer in our facilities, the decision was made last night that we would discontinue all in-person services again until further notice in an effort of extreme caution for the safety and well being of our families.” Read More

These churches report that they were following social distancing guidelines and taking other precautions but since the reports do not go into detail as to what steps they took, it is difficult to assess whether the steps they took were adequate enough. One of the challenges that face churches that are reopening is that federal, state, and local guidelines are based upon the state of our knowledge of how COVID-19 spreads at the time of their issuance. Since then, however, we have learned more about how the virus spreads and what we can to do mitigate its spread but this knowledge is not being passed onto churches in a systematic way so that they can benefit from the knowledge.

Another challenge is that the present administration is holding back information because its release does not serve its political and economic agenda. The White House dropped the CDC’s recommendations for churches from the CDC’s proposed guidelines for the reopening of the states and watered down other sections of the proposed guidelines. The recommendations for churches were dropped because they were ostensibly “too precise” and may infringe upon the free exercise of religion. A panel of three health experts who reviewed the modified guidelines concluded that they were “too ambiguous” and were practically worthless. See https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-rejected-cdc-s-first-coronavirus-reopening-america-guide-second-ncna1209626.

If churches are going to safeguard their congregations and their communities, they need precise guidelines, recommendations that are based upon the most recent knowledge of the transmission of COVID-19 and which are upgraded as our knowledge grows. With the White House shifting its focus away from mitigating the spread of COVID-19 to kick-starting the economy, denominations and other church networks need to develop their own guidelines for reopening their churches, based upon the latest research into COVID-19 and its transmission. Otherwise, churches will be reopening based upon inadequate guidelines and we will be reading more reports of churches that became epicenters of COVID-19 case clusters upon reopening. A slew of these reports is bound to damage the witness of churches across the United States and we will lose any benefits that we might have gained from the renewed interest in spiritual matters that Americans are now showing.