For the last few weeks, as the coronavirus pandemic has unfolded, churches in North Georgia - and the rest of the country for that matter - have had to change the dynamics of their worship services. That means the celebration of Easter this weekend will look much different than it typically does.
The transition to online worship has been easier for some congregations than others, but even for those that are digitally-advanced, church staffs have had to be innovative to maintain the sense of Christian community, while also upholding CDC guidelines for social distancing.
Mike Franklin, Lead Pastor at The Torch in Habersham County, said about 4,000 people on three different campuses - Demorest, Dahlonega and Madison - consider The Torch as their home church. Franklin said the church for years has used technology to enhance the worship experience. For example, he was able to preach to his congregation in North Georgia while he was on a trip to Israel, so his church members are flexible with the way the message is delivered. However, the pandemic presented some challenges.
"With social distancing, we've had to really be creative," Franklin said. "So, we've gone to what we call drive-in services. We space the parking so that every car is at least six feet apart - they're actually closer to 10 feet apart...and then we have a central platform area for staging."
The set-up allows people to see the stage from all four sides. To listen to the sermon, people tune to a radio frequency and listen to Franklin's sermon and music provided by a few musicians. Franklin said it also allows people to see each other, even at a distance.
"It grieves my heart that at a time when we need community, we don't have community. We can't go hug people, we can't go touch people, we can't sit down in a circle and talk with our friends, so we're creating things to give community in the middle of this," Franklin said.
Franklin said Easter will mark the fourth Sunday the church has used the drive-in format. The plan is to have two services Saturday at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. in Dahlonega on the campus of Lumpkin County High School and two services Sunday at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. at the church campus on Cannon Bridge Road in Demorest.
Another church in the area that has toyed with the idea of a drive-in service is Central Baptist Church in downtown Gainesville, a traditional church with an older congregation that just celebrated its 130th anniversary in January. Senior Pastor Mike Taylor said he had hoped it might happen for Easter, but based on the rainy forecast, the plan will be delayed. For now, Taylor will stick with Facebook Live for his sermons.
"[Media Director Matt Trawick] estimates maybe 70 to 75% of our congregation - even though we're an older congregation - are online and are accessing Facebook and are interacting with one another," Taylor said.
Weekly worship usually attracts about 120 people, according to Taylor. He said they have tried a conference call to link those without social media to the worship services, but so far that hasn't been successful. Taylor said they'll continue to work on ways to reach those who aren't able to make the online connection.
One digitally-savvy church that has assisted smaller churches with online set-up is Sugar Hill Church in North Gwinnett County. Lead Pastor Chuck Allen said he and his staff have shared their content with other churches, but that's not all they've done.
"Our staff has been able to help a half dozen other smaller churches that had never broadcast before get up and going, and that's been hugely rewarding," Allen said.
The 4,800 members of Sugar Hill Church have been able to worship online during the pandemic, and Allen said he expanded his online offerings beyond Sundays.
"We offer 10 different podcasts a week already and we've seen a spike in interest and we added added a few things like a Sugar Hill mid-week service where we've had 1,000 or so folks join us for that," Allen said.
For Easter, Allen and his digital media staff produced short videos for each day of Holy Week. Services have been recorded for Easter Sunday and will be broadcast online (www.live.sugarhill.church) at 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Plus, Allen said Sugar Hill will offer a sunrise service, something that has been scrapped in most cases because of the pandemic.
"Our worship pastor Zach Brown will be recording from his home and I'll be recording live outside of a city park to have a more outdoor, beautiful perspective - assuming that the weather works with us," Allen said.
No matter the format, it's still Easter Sunday
While Easter 2020 may not carry all the trappings of a traditional Easter - the church egg hunts for children have long been canceled, the fancy dresses and the new bow ties will remain in the closet, the worshippers will be scattered on Sunday - all three pastors agree that the focus will remain the same.
"The celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus is going to take place whether it happens in the traditional style the way we're used to...which we know is not going to happen this year...but the celebration will still be complete by the knowledge of who we're celebrating and why we're celebrating," said Taylor.
Franklin pointed out that even Christians are concerned about how the pandemic will play out, but he said members of his congregation remain faithful.
"A lot of people are tentative now on what to do financially, on what to do job-wise, on what to do in the future, but they're not tentative in their faith," Franklin said. "I think what's happening is that people are turning to God because what COVID has taught us is that you can't rely on everyone else or everything else to take care of you. You have to rely on God to take care of you."
Allen, too, said he's seen his church members walk out their faith more boldly during the last few weeks.
"What I've seen is the church rise up to do what the church should be doing anyway and that is caring for our community and praying for our community and folks having a greater degree of sacrificial giving," Allen said.
