Which churches have resumed gathering in person amid the coronavirus pandemic?
Mostly evangelical Protestant churches rather than mainline Protestant and, more often, those that are located in the south or midwest, according to a new survey released on Friday by LifeWay Research, the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.
St Ignatius Loyola Catholic Church in Houghton in the United States. PICTURE: Jonnelle Yankovich/Unsplash.
But even for those churches that have reopened, services likely don’t look like they did before COVID-19 upended everyday life in the United States.
“Resuming in-person worship services has not been reverting to worship as usual,” LifeWay Research Executive Director Scott McConnell said in a written statement.
By theological affiliation, 82 per cent of pastors who identify as evangelical – traditionally, more conservative – said their churches gathered in person for worship last weekend (19th July), compared to 57 per cent of pastors who identify as mainline.
Doctrinally, that shouldn’t make a difference, McConnell told Religion News Service. But many evangelicals also tend to be more politically conservative, and the split falls along political lines as the pandemic has become politicised.
And by region, 78 per cent of pastors in the midwest and 75 per cent in the south said they met last week in person, compared to 61 per cent in the west and 55 per cent in the north-east, according to the survey.
Those numbers dropped off this past weekend in the West as California has closed churches and businesses amid a spike in COVID-19 cases across the state, McConnell noted. They’ve remained low in the Northeast, which was hit hard by the pandemic early on and continues to take precautions “very seriously, even though they’re eager to get back to worship as well,” he said.
“I think that fairly well follows just the flow of how this pandemic has gone in the United States, but, given the flare-ups in some places, the churches that reopened have been following in many cases some rigid standards, but, at the same time, is that enough? Those questions I think will increasingly be asked,” McConnell added.
Overall, 71 per cent of all Protestant churches met in person for services last weekend and 73 per cent the weekend before (12th July), according to the LifeWay data.
Those numbers are much higher now than they were during previous LifeWay surveys in April (between four and seven per cent) and May (climbing from 15 to 42 per cent over the course of the month), when many states had issued strict guidance for large group gatherings to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
LifeWay’s numbers are higher than a similar survey by Barna Group, a California-based Christian research firm.
Barna found 49 per cent of church leaders surveyed during the week of 9th to 14th July said they were meeting in their buildings.
LifeWay noted virtually every church meeting indoors (99 per cent) was taking some kind of precautions to keep from spreading the coronavirus. That includes providing hand sanitizer, face masks or gloves (94 per cent); conducting additional cleaning of surfaces (86 per cent); closing seats to maintain distance between congregants (76 per cent); recommending people wear face masks (59 per cent); and requiring masks (35 per cent).
But even as Sunday services resume, most churches are not hosting other activities in person, including children’s ministries (13 per cent), student ministries (23 per cent) and adult Bible studies (29 per cent), according to the LifeWay survey.
LifeWay surveyed 443 Protestant pastors online between 20th and 22nd July. The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus five per cent at 95 per cent confidence, according to its methodology.