Churches outside metro region diverge on restrictions

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This article was published 03/11/2020 (2161 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Well before provincial officials imposed new restrictions on gathering sizes for religious groups outside of Winnipeg, one southern Manitoba church had already determined it would no longer meet under code orange.

“We actually made a decision as a leadership (group): if we were asked to go below 30 per cent, we would suspend our services and go online,” says Rob Haslam, lead minister of Pathway Community Church in Winkler.

Religious groups outside the Winnipeg metro region can meet as long as the number of congregants does not exceed 20 per cent of usual capacity or 250 people, whichever is less.

With only 120 people able to meet in a rented space seating 600, Haslam said the worship experience feels empty and distant. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, about 1,000 people attended Sunday worship and children’s activities, using the building’s break-out rooms and dining hall, in addition to the sanctuary.

“When we’re together as a congregation, there’s a buzz,” he said, adding the congregation will meet only by livestream the next two Sundays.

Limiting the numbers attending Sunday services does not mean reducing the mission of a Christian congregation, said pastor Gerald Dyck of Westside Community Church in Morden.

The congregation of about 500 resumed in-person worship in early October, and will keep its doors open Sunday mornings while reaching out to their neighbours in other ways, said Dyck.

Earlier in the pandemic, the congregation supplied hot meals from its commercial kitchen to staff at schools and medical centres, and it plans to start cooking again soon.

The announcement of increased restrictions already affected attendance Sunday at Steinbach Mennonite Brethren Church, said Rev. Walter Fast.

As chairman of the Steinbach Ministerial Association, a group representing 40 area churches, Fast knows his congregation is in a small minority of churches not singing together. Instead, worshippers are encouraged to hum along with two physically-distanced singers at the front of the church.

“Out of love for the person next to us, we will limit our desire (to sing) and freedom to verbalize our faith in the worship service,” said Fast.

Although he acknowledges the need for restrictions to prevent virus transmission, a minister of a large congregation in Altona believes churches should remain open because worshipping in the same space is an essential service of the church.

“Part of being the church family is seeing each other face-to-face,” said Rev. Jake Doell, interim minister at Altona Evangelical Mennonite Mission Church, which offers both livestream and in-person worship.

With few cases of the coronavirus in Winkler, Haslam has heard resistance to further measures around worship, but he said his church will not meet for now, and comply with all regulations when they do gather again.

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