Among these implications is that churches will need to change their policy for wearing face masks from voluntary to mandatory, requiring the wearing of masks not just before and after gatherings but throughout them. They will need to post large signs in highly visible locations stating that face masks must be worn at all times. They will also need to strictly enforce social distancing and take steps to ensure that rooms are adequately ventilated (See the NY Times article, “Serve Up Some Extra Precautions at Your Thanksgiving Table This Year” for tips on room ventilation). A drafty old church may actually prove safer than a church of more recent construction.
Churches will need to limit the number of occupants in a room for a worship service or other gathering. A church does not need to have 100% of the entire congregation present at a worship service or other gathering to be church, a claim that one hears and reads a number of pastors making in recent times. This claim is predicated on the false assumption that in New Testament times churches had 100% of the entire congregation in attendance at all meetings of the church. Social conditions in New Testament times would have rendered this an impossibility as they do in our time. Slaves formed a segment of the population in New Testament times and were not free to attend church meetings whenever they wanted. They attended the meetings when they were able, most likely arriving later than the other attendees and leaving earlier. In times of persecution their unauthorized absence from the home or workplace of their master could lead to the discovery of a congregation and the arrest of its members.
Rarely do churches in our day have 100% attendance of entire congregation at a worship service or other gathering. Members of the congregation may be sick, out of town on business or pleasure, or not in attendance for other reasons. If one followed the reasoning of this claim to its logical conclusion, the church ceases to exist every time a member of the congregation oversleeps and misses church. Indeed the church has not existed since New Testament times due to the absence of one or more members of the congregation on a particular Sunday.
The New Testament teaches that the Holy Spirit indwells individual believers and unites them to their Lord and to each other. Jesus promised that when two or three gathered in his name, he would be present in their midst. It is not essential that the whole congregation must gathered in one place for the church to be the church. Christians have met as large groups and small groups since New Testament times, depending upon circumstances. There is no Biblical or sound theological reason for not going to smaller, multiple services during a pandemic. It may prove logistically challenging but in most cases a church will be able to meet that challenge. It will sometimes require thinking out of the box.
Churches will also need to temporarily suspend the use of singing, shouting chanting, loud talking, or any other activity in worship that affects the respiration rate of those present, causing them to inhale and exhale more air and to breath more deeply. It will also need to temporarily suspend the use of wind instruments in worship. If one or more people is infected and asymptomatic, these activities will increase the number of airborne virus particles that they exhale. They can lead to the buildup of a high concentration of virus particles in the air of the room if the room is poorly ventilated. They will also increase the number of virus particles that those who are not infected will inhale. How severe a case of the disease people get has been linked to the quantity of virus particle that they inhale.
During a spike in the COVID-19 cases in a particular state, region, or county when people are not wearing face masks or observing other safety measures despite the urgings of the local authorities—in my case, the mayor of the town and the lead judge of the fiscal court, the best step for a church to take may be to temporarily suspend its in-person services until the infection rate has gone down significantly. As long as one segment of the population is defying the community safety guidelines or taking a relaxed attitude toward the virus, the rest of the community is at risk, including the churches in the community. A church may implement adequate layers of intervention but due to the intransigence of this population segment or its lack of concern for its own safety and the safety of others may nonetheless become an epicenter of a new cluster of cases. What one part of the community does or does not do affects the rest of the community. While the slogan “we are all in this together” is often ignored, it does point to an essential truth—we are all in this together. Those who are not a part of the solution to the problem are part of the problem.
The New Testament teaches that the Holy Spirit indwells individual believers and unites them to their Lord and to each other. Jesus promised that when two or three gathered in his name, he would be present in their midst. It is not essential that the whole congregation must gathered in one place for the church to be the church. Christians have met as large groups and small groups since New Testament times, depending upon circumstances. There is no Biblical or sound theological reason for not going to smaller, multiple services during a pandemic. It may prove logistically challenging but in most cases a church will be able to meet that challenge. It will sometimes require thinking out of the box.
Churches will also need to temporarily suspend the use of singing, shouting chanting, loud talking, or any other activity in worship that affects the respiration rate of those present, causing them to inhale and exhale more air and to breath more deeply. It will also need to temporarily suspend the use of wind instruments in worship. If one or more people is infected and asymptomatic, these activities will increase the number of airborne virus particles that they exhale. They can lead to the buildup of a high concentration of virus particles in the air of the room if the room is poorly ventilated. They will also increase the number of virus particles that those who are not infected will inhale. How severe a case of the disease people get has been linked to the quantity of virus particle that they inhale.
Worship generally services last an hour or more. If they are not wearing face masks or lower their faces masks, those present can inhale a substantial number of airborne virus particles during that period. For these reasons places of worship have been classified as places that are high risk for COVD-19 transmission along with gyms, restaurants, cafes, and bars.
When one considers such factors as length of service, length of sermon, and types of worship activities, a quiet, said Catholic low mass, reduced to its basic elements and with a short homily and communion in one kind, may be safer than a charismatic or Pentecostal service with its singing and shouting, lengthy medleys of praise and worship songs, lengthy sermons, and laying on of hands with prayer. A charismatic or Pentecostal service may last two hours or more. Its worship activities are not only likely to increase the respiration rates of those present but also to bring them into close proximity to each other. On the other hand, at a Catholic low mass there is usually no singing and the only time that one person comes closer than six feet to another person is during the distribution of the communion.
During a spike in the COVID-19 cases in a particular state, region, or county when people are not wearing face masks or observing other safety measures despite the urgings of the local authorities—in my case, the mayor of the town and the lead judge of the fiscal court, the best step for a church to take may be to temporarily suspend its in-person services until the infection rate has gone down significantly. As long as one segment of the population is defying the community safety guidelines or taking a relaxed attitude toward the virus, the rest of the community is at risk, including the churches in the community. A church may implement adequate layers of intervention but due to the intransigence of this population segment or its lack of concern for its own safety and the safety of others may nonetheless become an epicenter of a new cluster of cases. What one part of the community does or does not do affects the rest of the community. While the slogan “we are all in this together” is often ignored, it does point to an essential truth—we are all in this together. Those who are not a part of the solution to the problem are part of the problem.
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