About half of US churches planning to resume in-person services in May

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – After weeks of having online services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, about half of US churches are expected to resume holding in-person services in May, the Christian Post reported. Churches that reopen are expected to do so while still observing safety measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Taken before last week’s unveiling of President Trump’s guidelines to Opening Up America Again, a Barna weekly national pastor panel survey for April 7-13 found that 47 percent of pastors thought they would return to their church buildings in May.

A number of pastors have spoken to the press about their plans to reopen while still observing safety precautions. In Fishers, Indiana, a local pastor told the Christian Post that his church building will be open for services this weekend. However, the pastor said, a new service will start every hour as only 10 people will be allowed in at a time.

In Montana, where Gov. Steve Bullock said phase one of reopening will include churches, Pastor Lance Steeves of Summit Church told 7KBZK his church was working on “setting chairs up at six feet apart where people have that safety in distance, sanitization to have hand sanitizer available. Stations set up where people are constantly cleaning. Shortening services where it helps people to alleviate things like the restroom. We talked about perhaps closing down areas like the meeting places like around the coffee bar.”

Nevertheless, around 50 percent of pastors in the survey said they did not expect to return to their church buildings until June or later. Among these, 35 percent said June, 14 percent said July or August and one percent said later.

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