Churches Use Outdoors As Alternative Venues And Meeting Places

Churches around the UK are getting creative after being forced to close their doors due to the COVID- 19 pandemic. Several churches are taking advantage of the summer season and have been meeting in car parks and fields

Gatherings for services have ranged from small groups assembled in the corner of a field to scores of cars in a supermarket car park for a socially distanced drive-in.

“The Church is finding new ways to worship,” the Vicar of St Barnabas’s, Ealing, the Revd Justin Dodd, said. He is holding a regular Tuesday-lunchtime mass on the grass in front of his church, to which the response has been “fantastic”.

“Given current circumstances, an outdoor service means risks are somewhat more manageable,” he said.

There are still some restrictions, including social distancing, no singing, and holy communion is administered in one kind only. Chairs are provided, but people are advised to bring an umbrella — for shade as well as protection from the rain.

“There was something very powerful about us gathering in nature: the sense of constancy and renewal that is happening in the natural world with all the upheaval that was going on around us with the pandemic. People who participated said it felt very grounding and peaceful. We will review it at the end of this month, as we go into the autumn, but, given the reaction we have had, it is something I would do again next year.

“The most exciting thing is that It has opened up a new way of connecting with people.”

At St Mary’s, Ash Vale, near Guildford, the Vicar, the Revd Neil Lambert, has used the car park for drive-in morning services and evensongs since March. Easter alleluias were signalled by drivers’ turning on windscreen wipers, and the peace was exchanged by sounding the cars’ horns. “That was a bit noisy,” he said. “At the end, we gave everyone a blessing by hosing the cars down with water. It was quite dramatic, and the kids loved it.”

The service is delivered on Zoom with the congregation on laptops, tablets, and phones. “We won’t let go of the opportunities that Zoom give us,” Mr Lambert said. “Zoom church is very interactive. We have the local nursing home Zooming in. We’ve never had that before. So we’re reaching people in places we’ve never been. It’s been tremendous.

Source- Church Times