DALLAS — Churches in Dallas-Fort Worth and across the United States are working to adjust as the coronavirus has temporarily shut many of them down. These churches have come up with innovative ways through technology to reach their congregation in this time.
“I’ve talked to pastors who have been in the ministry a long time and they just have never seen anything quite like this,” Concord Church Pastor Bryan Carter said. “So it’s incredibly challenging for all of us to try and do ministry but to do it at a distance.”
Carter’s church usually draws between 5,000 to 6,000 people every weekend, but this Sunday, their service was streamed on Facebook.
“Now we’re using technology to be able to touch people and connect with them digitally, but it’s still a bit different than being there person to person,” Carter said. "So many of us, myself included, are preaching to empty rooms and then sharing that message with our congregations.”
Freedom Church in Carrolton also found a way to innovate. On Sunday, they offered drive-thru communion.
“We’re trying to find what’s some way we can have some kind of interaction,” associate pastor Andrew Lawhon said. “So we decided to get a bunch of our pre-packaged communion cups and just offer a quick drive-thru prayer, a quick drive-thru communion, and that way we can still see our people and love on our people.”
Crystal Rhiner tried it out.
“This is amazing and for them to do this for us is unlike anything I have ever seen before in my life,” Rhiner said. “God is still on the throne, God is good. And there is no fear here. We have to know that.”
At Concord Church, Carter is keeping his faith.
“We feel that the church has been created for times like this. In times of difficulty, that’s when faith matters the most,” Carter said. “It’s the faith that gives us strength, that gives us optimism, that gives us a future.”
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