Reopening a Congregation Responsibly

              So big caveat, this is a thought experiment, if it helps you think about your congregation’s eventual reopening, good. All I’m doing is ruminating on the Governor’s plan, 3 Texas Synod’s recommendations, and the Wisconsin Council of Churches two resources. That said, there is a growing movement in my state of congregations saying, “Slow down!” For that matter, until there is a vaccine, the best we can hope for is to do church in a way that keeps our people healthy in mind, body, and soul.

              With all throat clearing, some initial thoughts.

RISK & NEED:

Firstly, I looked at my congregation’s mission statement:
“St. Stephen Lutheran: a worshiping community of the ELCA, where the faith is taught, connections are made, and people are cared for.”

              Here is a chart considering how essential and risky aspects of each of those parts are as currently practices (again, a little throat clearing, this is my assessment with some coffee and a little time… I might rate them differently tomorrow or even this evening)

MANAGING RISKS:

Worship (Services and Choir)
              Sunday services will need to be multiplied, modified, and remote.

Multiplied:
This is essential for Social Distancing, if families are going to stay 6 feet away from other families there need to be enough services that there is space in the building to do this safely. Also, in between worship services there will need to be heavy cleaning.

Modified:
-All mobile objects should be removed from the sanctuary so that there are less things that can be touched; extra surfaces spread the Virus.
-In person worship might need to be done outside for a time.
-Congregants have to be responsible that will mean: not attending worship if they are part of a vulnerable population, wearing masks in service for a good while, and entering and exiting in a sensible manner. IF THIS ISN’T POSSIBLE IT IS NOT YET TIME TO WORSHIP IN PERSON.
-Bulletins will have to be left on seats and not reused and the offering will have to be modified.
-For a time singing, the peace, and Holy Communion will have to be omitted from the service.

Remote:
-This is something the congregation has likely been doing. What will change is that we’ll need to create a hybrid in-person/on-line type of worship. Think of it as “Taped in front of a live studio audience.” The trick is that where there are people attending the taping there will be privacy concerns; how do you respect congregants privacy while also ensuring vulnerable congregants at home get to participate in worship?

Choir:
This is tough to say, but singing is one of the major ways the virus spreads. In fact, meeting as a choir can be deadly.

ELCA:  
              Continuing to tithe to the Synod is harder with irregular offerings, but not risky. Additionally, in our Synod the Bishop is going to provide worship this coming Sunday and our Synod Assembly has been moved to September. So, not too much risk.

Partners:          
              The ELCA prides ourselves on our Ecumenical and Interfaith bent, as well as our willingness to partner with a wide variety of secular organizations. On the other hand, the danger with partners is they have different values and ways of doing things. So, for example, one of my ecumenical partners let an infected person wander through our sanctuary. To them it was no big deal, to us it was.
              Creating boundaries in partnerships and clearly expressing values and operating procedures is always essential, but even more so when this is life and death stuff.

Taught:             
              We have seven different learning opportunities at St. Stephen. One of them are already running online via Zoom with another on the way that will be one part zoom and another part YouTube. Additionally, our outdoor Learning, Lawn chairs, and Lemonade Learning/Fellowship event fits social distancing fairly well, though perhaps it will need to be a Bring Your Own Lemonade (BYOL) event.
              But there are other Bible Studies that are less obvious how they’ll fit. For example, a bible study in the home of an at risk parishioner and another in a local pub. How does that work?

Connections:
              How do we do fellowship now? I think Coffee Hour is just out of the question for a good long time. For that matter, the majority of our fellowship groups are made up of people who are considered especially at risk of contracting the Virus… Perhaps it all has to go!

People:
              The Body of Christ in the world is made up of people, hubs of interconnected lives that are salt and light for the world, close contact and ongoing relationship, being gathered and sent, is innate to who we are… and that same interconnection transmits the virus; gathering and sending is sinister in this situation! We’re going to have to be so careful as we live out our call to care for people.

-This one tears me up, but I won’t be able to visit the homebound for a long time, and the hospitalized for even longer. These folk are incredibly susceptible to the Virus and I can not unintentionally infect someone, full stop. For that matter, our hospitals don’t have enough gowns and masks for the doctors and nurses, they sure as heck will not prioritize outsiders. All this means I gotta make phone calls, write letters, and encourage congregants to do the same.
-Our Pop-up Food Pantry has done a good job modifying how we are serving folk; we are bagging the food separately and depositing it in folk’s trunks. It isn’t ideal, but it is the best we can do; there are so many hungry folk in this time of quarantine.
-Then there is the council and committee end of things. I think we’ll continue to find out how many meetings could just be emails, and zooming when necessary, for a good long time.

A HYPOTHETICAL ROADMAP:

              Again, a little throat clearing, this is SO hypothetical, just playing out what people who are thinking through reopening for a living have said this might look like. Remember Clausewitz, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”

May 15^th (this is the date some people are talking about opening schools here) Phase 1 begins
In the World: 
              New Jersey has had two weeks of fewer new cases of the virus, two weeks of fewer people on ventilators, and two weeks of hospital beds opening up; in general we have more recoveries than new cases. The Governor “soft-opens” the state.

In the Church:
              In phase one everything is still done remotely, the only change is that the Director of Music, the Pastor, and a Videographer are present in the building to broadcast worship.

May 29^th A Relapse
In the World:  Everyone went out on Memorial Day, new cases of the virus spike.
In the Church: We go back to broadcasting at home.

June 15^th Phase 1 again

June 29^th Phase 2 Begins

In the World:  Phase one works this time. People are more cautious.

In the Church: We jump up to 3 worship services, one of which is broadcast remotely. Everyone who worships in person wears a mask. The service is projected on a screen, or typed on a simple one page throw away bulletin. Vulnerable populations are required to attend online. Offering is placed in a plate at the entrance to the sanctuary, we do not pass the peace, and we do not sing (though we do listen to an amazing prelude and postlude). Council experiments with a meeting where they socially distance in the sanctuary and wear masks. Everything else is still done remotely.

July 13^th Phase 3 Begins

In the World:  The initial scare after the first phase one must have really jolted people. Everyone is following protocols. Good times!

In the Church: At this point we collapse down to 2 in person services, one of which is broadcast remotely. The vulnerable are still required to attend online, not in person. The bulletin is a little more robust, peace now involves a reverent bow to your neighbor. A soloist sings. Everything else in worship is still like phase 2. Outdoor learning opportunities are offered along with ongoing online ones, the start of a hybrid system. Pastor begins to spend longer in the church office. Committees begin to meet in a socially distanced manner.

August 1^st Phase 4 Begins

In the World:  The Virus has fallen for 42 days straight! Things are getting back to “normal”.

In the Church: We go back down to one in person service and one remote service. Masks are removed, communion, though still modified for safety, is added back, limited singing returns. The choir begins to meet and practice. Bible study returns to “normal” though Pastor still offers YouTube summaries for the vulnerable. Pastor resumes office hours and begins to visit the homebound, and the hospitalized as appropriate.

October 1^st Corona Season begins

In the World:  We don’t yet have a vaccine. It turns out the Virus is like the Flu, and comes back seasonally.

In the Church: We know how to deal with this… we return to Shelter in place, or Phase one, depending on how severe everything is.

CONCLUSION:

              Look at your congregational values and the activities that flow from them. How essential are they? How Risky are they?

              Perhaps cease to do the less essential things, especially if they are risky. Find ways to minimize the risks of things that are essential. Move slowly, this isn’t flipping a switch, this is becoming something new, it takes time. Also, we’re the church, don’t move at the same pace as the world; it is in our DNA to care for people more than profit, that is not so for those making decisions about re-opening things.

              Be safe!