Churches have had to adapt during COVID-19 pandemic dilemma

LINCOLN — On March 16, Gov. Pete Ricketts announced that public events could only be held with fewer than 10 people, forcing thousands of Nebraska’s churches to suspend their inperson services.

Eight weeks later, most churches remain closed to public gatherings.

However, many churches throughout the state have been able to continue their worship and outreach in other ways.

In northern Cedar County, churches utilized Facebook and the local cable TV channel to broadcast their services to parishioners.

Holy Trinity Catholic Church and Trinity Lutheran Church in Hartington both had their Sunday services broadcast on the Hartelco cable TV system.

YouTube and Facebook Live have replaced the Sunday morning pews for many churchgoers, while Zoom meetings have kept small groups together.

“There was a quick immersion— baptism, if you will— into the technology,” said Kevin Gibson, director of worship and music at West Hills Church in Omaha.

At Lifepoint Church in Norfolk, services are available on News Channel Nebraska.

Father Vijumon Thomas, who oversees Catholic parishes in the Sandhills communities of Mullen, Hyannis and Thedford, does not provide his own live streams but encourages his parishioners to watch other Catholic live streams. His churches remained open for prayer, but people must come at different times instead of gathering together. Holy Trinity and St. Micheal

Holy Trinity and St. Micheal parish priest Fr. Owen Korte said after being closed for Mass for two months, his two churches began to reopen May 18, but on a limited basis.

In a letter to parishioners, Fr. Korte urged people to practice social distancing by attending an evening Mass during the week instead of attending the traditional weekend Mass.

Mass is being held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday at Holy Trinity. Mass is also being held at the Coleridge church on Monday evenings. It is hoped this will keep the Saturday and Sunday crowds down to manageable numbers, he said.

Fr. Korte is also offering a “communion in your car” option for Saturday night and Sunday Mass attendees.

For more details, local parishioners are asked to see the church website or Facebook page.

The biggest challenge for many churches has been maintaining a community among their members.

“At first I wanted to say [the biggest challenge of COVID-19 was] having to make such a quick transition to doing everything online, but actually, I think being able to truly care for our church members has been the hardest because you can’t see people in person,” said Noelle Landon, office administrator at Southridge Church in Papillion. “There might be widows or

“There might be widows or single people or elderly people that we would see at church on Sundays and now, especially if they don’t do a lot of technology, we might not be able to connect with them,” she said.

Mary Hausman, office administrator at Monument Bible Church in Scottsbluff said her church faces similar problems.

“It’s easy to feel forgotten about,” she said. “Even though we’re trying to call people and whatnot, it’s just really not the same as being in person.”

Many churches have also had to change the way they serve the community.

Members of First Christian Church Disciples of Christ in Grand Island have been making masks and donating them, according to Pastor Julie Western.

Ryan Harmon, directional pastor at Lincoln Berean Church, said his church and two partner churches have sewn between 5,000 and 8,000 masks.

“Those masks have been a pretty cool initiative that a bunch of people in our church have taken upon themselves to work on,” he said.

Harmon said his church has also been providing snacks to healthcare workers enduring long shifts while continuing their other outreach ministries.

“The three things we’ve really been trying to do is care for the healthcare workers, care for the homeless the best we can and then the vulnerable in our community,” he said.

Neal said LifePoint Church in Norfolk has not started any new outreach programs, but it has seen more participation in its program which provides bags of groceries to people in need.

Some churches, such as Southridge, have even created new programs for food distribution.