The Coronavirus: Should You Cancel Church Services?
This week I sat with leaders at two of the largest churches in the country: Bayside in California and Willow Creek in Chicago. Each church has more than 18,000 people who gather every weekend, and a great deal of time is being spent talking about how to help their congregations both practically and spiritually face the fears and realities of the Coronavirus.
Whether your church has 18, 180, or 18,000 every week — these are conversations you should be having as well. As of today, Washington State has been the place hardest hit in the United States. But even churches far away are being impacted—Craig Groeschel has been quarantined for 14 days after being exposed at a conference in Germany. Kirkland, Washington, is the epicenter of many of the current cases in the United States, and Northshore Church in Kirkland has provided the following as a helpful guideline in how they are approaching preparing their congregation. This was freely shared with the Executive Pastor Coaching Network, and encouraged to disperse, and I believe it should be helpful to church leaders everywhere.
Approach
Your communication around the coronavirus should be a two-fold approach: pastoral and tactical. Communication should be pastoral because, in a time of fear and crisis, people will need to be reminded that God is their refuge and strength an ever-present help in times of trouble. Communication should also be tactical as people will want to know there is a plan and be reassured that you are taking their health seriously.
Before you get into any discussions around pastoral and tactical communications, we recommend you take the following actions:
Get decision-making leaders together to be on the same page
Don’t try and manage up
Learn about the virus here and here to help inform decisions
Don’t let fear drive decisions, there is a lot of false information out there
Contact your local State/County/City health office as soon as possible
You’ll want to them to know you exist as a church and in the event of an outbreak for them to give you guidance
Tactical Questions
Before you begin any form of tactical communication, we recommend you ask your leaders the following questions:
What does our cleaning/sanitation process currently look like?
Are all our frequently touched surfaces involved in the cleaning process (ie doors, handles, water fountains, tables, sinks, check-in stations, touchscreens)?
Do we need to take extra cleaning measures?
What will we need to do around service elements?
Will we stop Communion during this time?
Will we stop passing the offering buckets/plates (if applicable)?
Will we stop passing out bulletins/programs (if applicable)?
Will we stop doing a greeting time (if applicable)?
Are we asking our volunteers/door greeters/welcome teams to refrain from shaking hands?
Are we asking them to frequently wash their hands?
Do we refrain from offering coffee or other treats during this time?
What does our cleaning/sanitation process look like for kid’s rooms?
Are all our frequently touched surfaces involved in the cleaning process (ie toys, doors, handles, water fountains, tables, sinks, check-in stations, touchscreens)?
Do we need to take extra cleaning measures?
Are we visibly doing things that help people see cleanliness? (ie putting out hand sanitizer stations, having staff/volunteers wipe surfaces while people are around)
Do you have a plan if an individual in your congregation tests positive for the Coronavirus?
Do you take attendance of kids and volunteers, in case you need to reach out to a group that was around that individual?
What would cause us to have to cancel services?
Does a certain amount of people have to get sick in your congregation?
Does the local health office recommendations have an impact on our decision making?
Where are we posting our closures? (ie building signage, Google My Business, phone messages, email, social media, website)
Tactical Communications
Your leadership’s approach and answers to tactical questions should help inform your communications at this point. We recommend getting ahead of the issue so you are not caught flat-footed. Determine ahead of time what communication channels you plan on using (ie website, social media, email, text, from the stage).
If the coronavirus was just discovered in your area, we recommend letting your congregation know you are aware of it and are keeping an eye on it. You want them to feel safe and that there is thought behind it.
If the coronavirus is spreading in your area, we recommend letting your congregation know your plan of action and what your expectations are of them. It’s also important that you give them an opportunity to feel heard in this communication. Here is an updated link to how Northshore is communicating to their congregation.
Spiritual Questions
Before you begin any form of spiritual communication, we recommend you ask your leaders the following questions:
What are we doing to encourage our congregation to not live in fear?
What opportunities do we have to help our local communities?
What are we doing to encourage our volunteers to show up and serve?
What are we doing to help people who are staying home to stay engaged with our church (ie livestream, digital content, phone calls)
Spiritual Communications
Your leadership’s approach and answers to spiritual questions should help inform your communications at this point. We recommend spending twice as much time communicating around this than tactical communication. People will remember more about how you’ve impacted their hearts than the list of procedures. Every church’s approach to this will be completely different, you will know what the best approach is for your congregation (know your audience).
We recommend your pastors or hosts acknowledge the crisis from the stage. Here is a sample of one weekend the pastor at Northshore talked about it (skip to 15:25 & 1:00:15).
We recommend the leaders of volunteers send a video, text message, or phone call to your volunteers letting them know how their service is making a difference. Remember people often come back to the church in times of crisis - this time they might simply reach out from afar. Don’t guilt them into this, let them know how they are valued and how they personally make an impact. Volunteers may be tempted to stay home during this crisis, which is why this is important to do this.
We recommend looking for ways to make an impact in your community during this crisis. For us it was simple, we wanted to help out the staff and patients of the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington - the epicenter of the coronavirus where unfortunately many residents passed away. We decided to provide the staff with Chick-Fil-A lunches one day and the next day we delivered care packages to the residents. We posted this on social media and it gained A LOT of traction in our community (especially in community Facebook groups). You’ll notice a lot of fear and negativity on social media feeds during this time, so this is a stark and welcomed difference.
Other Communications
A couple of other pieces of information your leaders should consider:
Staff communication. Always let the staff know your plans before anyone else. Always. They are your team members and can help answer many questions on your behalf.
What policies/closures does the staff/volunteers need to be updated on?
What does it look like for staff to work remotely?
What does PTO/Sick Time look like?
Who is the point person for communication?
You’ll want this person to set the standard for all forms of communication to flow from
You’ll want your staff and volunteer reiterating what has already been communicated - be consistent and clear!
Are there staff/volunteer social media policies in place?
You don’t want staff or volunteers mentioning they think they know someone who attends your church and has the virus
Dealing with the Press
Be prepared for the press to come knocking. This can be a great opportunity for exposure in your community - if you’re ready and have a plan!
Who is the point person to talk to the press?
You’ll want that person to have knowledge of the entire approach and policies.
They’ll need to be consistent with what is posted and said - they pick up on inconsistencies!
Try and control some of the narratives and stay positive, encouraging and calm.
Avoid letting them walk up to people in your congregation who you don’t know. It could be someone’s first day there and you don’t want them feeling out of place and uncomfortable
Try reaching out or tagging the press if you are making an impact in the community.
Credit: Northshore Church, Kirkland, Washington