First United Methodist Church has been streaming their services online amid the pandemic.
WADESBORO — Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rev. Sarah Kalish of First United Methodist Church (FUMC) has been hosting virtual worship services with Heather McIntyre of First Presbyterian Church since March and plans to continue doing so for the foreseeable future.
“We’ve reached beyond Wadesboro with our services being streamed,” Kalish said. “Former members who’ve moved, friends of members, all sorts of people from all over have been watching.”
One downside of streaming worship services is accessibility.
“Some of our congregation do not have access to a computer,” said Kalish.
FUMC members have come up with some unique solutions to this problem.
“We have one daughter who has her mom watch the services with her,” said Kalish. “Another member of our congregation has a computer, but isn’t on Facebook so we’ve figured out a way to email them the services.”
Kalish also tries to reach out to her congregation through phone calls and a weekly newsletter.
In addition to in-person sermons, FUMC has had to adapt to the pandemic in other ways, such as canceling most visitations.
“I can’t go visit our congregation when they’re in the hospital now,” said Kalish. “That was hard because it was part of my normal routine.”
Bible studies have also been canceled for the time being.
Despite the constraints of virtual worship services, Kalish doesn’t believe she’ll switch to in-person services anytime soon. “I talked to a lot of my members, most of them are not ready to come back,” said Kalish. “That’s across the ages, it’s not just my elderly members. Some of my young families don’t want to risk anything.”
“I am real concerned about how worship is going to happen in the future and how it will effect attendance,” said Kalish. “When people get out of the habit of coming to church, it can get hard to come back to it.”
Reach Charles Wood at 704 994 5471