Churches find way to spread word
Otago and Southland churches have faced down multiple challenges posed by the end of the usual religious services during the Covid19 lockdown. John Gibb and Mark Price talk to ministers about what has been learned and what changes will continue in futur
THE lockdown may have been good for churches. ‘‘Ironically, the fact that we’re all shut in has helped us to get out from the church and engage with the city around us,’’ the Very Rev Dr Tony Curtis, Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral Church, says.
He is among church leaders who have highlighted the stronger sense of community solidarity gained by extensive use of phones, including by church volunteers, to connect with isolated and atrisk parishioners.
Churches have had to rethink, and try new approaches, instead of simply offering traditional services, and have used YouTube, other online resources and church internet sites to reach both a new and existing audience.
Some organisers have created sophisticated online experiences, including in the case of St Paul’s Cathedral, the singing of a virtual choir, having combined recordings from the bubbles of respective choir members in about 20 places round the city, through choir coordinator Michael Grant.
And some ministers, including at Knox Church and St Paul’s, have discovered that prerecorded Sunday YouTube services have been watched in Dunedin and elsewhere in Otago, and also in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and several other countries.
Some people who had previously lost connection with church services, through hearing loss and other physical disabilities, have been reincluded through online services, and audiolink arrangements.
‘‘We’re going in future to make a great deal more use of online connections,’’ the Rev Dr Kerry
Enright, of Knox Church, says.
Captain David McEwen, of the Salvation Army Dunedin City Corps, said the closure of many church buildings had underscored the reality that the church was ultimately made up of people — not merely buildings.
It had been ‘‘incredibly difficult’’ for some isolated, atrisk people during the lockdown.
‘‘People can’t go out, they feel trapped.’’
Nevertheless, Dunedin’s churches were working well together, were supporting the vulnerable, and he hoped that sense of community would continue.
Online technology showed its value in delivering the Salvation Army’s national Sunday service through Salvation Online, and a fun quiz organised by the
Dunedin Corps recently had attracted about 40 participants from many places, including the North Island, he said.
Mercy Parish Whanau Aroha priest the Rev Dr Gerard Aynsley, of South Dunedin, said ‘‘because we’ve had a slowdown, things are quieter’’.
He hoped that quieter pace of life, and fewer cars on the road, would encourage people to question the assumption that ‘‘we need to be going 24 hours a day, seven days a week’’.
Phone calls were still being made to ensure ‘‘everyone is OK’’, and faith was expressed not only through Sunday Mass but also in continuing care, and ‘‘communication with each other’’, Dr Aynsley said.
The Rev Ed Masters, of First Church of Otago, said many people had worked together to help meet the ‘‘obviously challenging’’ difficulties posed by coronavirus and the lockdown.
‘‘We’ve learned a lot of skills [including with social media] and we’ll carry them forward.’’
‘‘The people of the church are continuing to pray and reflect and respond to the gospel through acts of kindness,’’ he said.
Being unable to connect physically with loved ones, or to visit them in resthomes was a ‘‘big stress’’ but people were coping better than expected, he said.
Dr Enright said that for people living alone and at risk of coronavirus, there was now ‘‘a sense of fragility and vulnerability’’.
Many older people also felt a sense of ‘‘anticipated grief ’’, and feared that a long, happy life, including overseas travel, might not necessarily happen as previously hoped.
‘‘This is a time for the church to review all of its life and how it goes about things,’’ he added.
Dr Curtis said 500 households had watched each service linked to St Paul’s Cathedral during the Easter Holy Week, and ‘‘a lot of good things’’ had come from joining together online.
‘‘It’s made us think about what’s important and it’s made us appreciate what we have.’’
‘‘People really stepped up and took responsibility for each other and looked after each other.
‘‘A lot of people have really come together.’’
Wanaka New Life pastor Wayne Ward had employed Facebook, Zoom and even the humble telephone to keep in touch with his 150 parishioners spread across Upper Clutha.
Mr Ward said the church had yet to decide when it would resume its normal Sunday morning service.
Gore Catholic priest Damian WynnWilliams, who is in his 70s, said he had been grappling with video technology but still managed to successfully conduct Zoom services.
He was, as yet, uncertain about how his church would cope with the return to normal services while meeting social distancing and sanitising rules.
There had been difficulties communicating with parishioners in resthomes during the lockdown, and he was uncertain about how resuming personal visits could be managed.