(Cumberland) Social-distancing has made a vast impact on most of our lives and among the bigger voids for some people is the lack of church services.
Cumberland United Methodist Church Pastor Casey Pelzer reminds everyone that attending a service is just one way to connect with God, but there are others. “You don’t need anything special to be able to connect with God. I know a lot of people rely upon the church gathering to do that and they should and it does happen in those times and spaces. But I hope we haven’t forgotten and maybe we’ve been reminded that we can be connected with God right here in our living room at any time or while riding our bike or any place. He’s always accessible and available.”
Pelzer says the biggest challenge is connecting with each other without gathering together. Many churches have posted sermons on social media and there’s an app that’s called the youversion Bible App. “You can build communities of I think up to 120 people in there. It lets you interact with others. You can go through devotional studies where you can highlight a verse and other people can see what you highlighted and what comments you made. You can have a dialogue back and forth. You can have a prayer chain and see who prayed for you.” Pelzer notes some of the older versions of communication have come back into play such as writing a letter which can be refreshing.
Just as small businesses may be feeling a pinch, small rural churches are too. “The bills continue to come in and when a church doesn’t gather there really isn’t any money coming in. Many churches have online giving, but small rural churches usually don’t have that set up. If at all possible and you are blessed and feel called to give, don’t forget not only to support local businesses, but to support local churches.”
Pelzer calls it a unique time and says the church and its leaders are facing similar challenges business leaders and their employees and clients and educational leaders and their schools.
