Modesto church leaders, worshippers share their thoughts on recent U.S. court ruling
Modesto churches that already have been offering indoor worship services during the COVID-19 pandemic welcomed the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling Friday that struck down the state’s prohibition of them.
That ruling led California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration to release late Saturday guidelines for indoor worship services based on how the state labels the status of the pandemic in a county.
Shortly before a 9 a.m. service Sunday at One Church on Scenic Drive in Modesto, lead pastor Kyle Bethke said the actions by the high court and the state affirm what his church has been doing in a healthy and responsible way.
The guidelines follow the state’s color-coded tier system and say churches and other houses of worship can allow attendance at 25% of capacity in counties designated purple (widespread) and red (substantial). Attendance at 50% capacity is allowed in counties listed as orange (moderate) and yellow (minimal).
Most of the state, including Stanislaus County, is in the purple tier.
“So it doesn’t really change much, this will not loosen us further,” Bethke said. “We’re being very diligent and stringent now, but yet gathering indoors. So I don’t think that this changes much until we go to the next tier. ... We’re just going to continue to stay the course. We’re very blessed that we’re able to gather indoors because it really helps people.”
Sunday, those attending the service had to have reservations to attend, which were checked at the door, where they also had their temperatures taken.
Flexible seating, shorter services
One Church has been offering indoor services since October, the pastor said, and always has met or exceeded the guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including masking and social distancing. The allow households to sit together while being spaced from others, Bethke said, there are rows of two, three, four and five chairs to accommodate families of different sizes.
The church also has shortened services to minimize the time spend inside, he said, and some doors are left open to improve ventilation.
The pastor emphasized that One Church’s indoor worship never had been about making a political statement. “We support our governor, we support our county officials, we support all these folks that are doing their best to keep everybody safe,” he said. By doing things safely, “we’re trying to honor the Lord first and foremost, and in the process trying to honor men and women that have been had been put in positions of authority.”
Among those arriving for Sunday’s service was Saundra Edwards. On her way in, she said her church has done a terrific job of keeping members safe, and she hopes the easing of restrictions stands. “We’ve been out in the freezing cold, with blankets around us and everything,” she said. “But we still had church going on because we have faith in God, and we’re trying to keep on having faith in our government, but it’s awfully hard.”
The state guidelines were released about 24 hours after the Supreme Court, ruling in a lawsuit brought by South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista, struck down Newsom’s rules forbidding indoor services. On a 6-3 vote, the court said the California rules violated the church’s First Amendment rights.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court said California could continue to enforce limits on attendance as well as prohibitions on singing. The state has said singing could further spread the highly contagious virus.
“We will continue to enforce the restrictions the Supreme Court left in place,” said Newsom’s spokesman Daniel Lopez.
Some Modesto churches even while offering indoor services also have had them outdoors and online.
While waiting in a socially distanced line for indoor Mass at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on Oakdale Road on Sunday morning, Melissa Lopes said outdoor Masses, in which people listen over a radio frequency, have been very well attended. “A lot of us were out here in the rain and the cold hearing Mass outside, but it’s so nice to be able to be indoors again,” she said.
The high court’s ruling “means everything to us,” Lopes said. To worship publicly is a right, she said, and it made no sense to say people could go to Walmarts, Costcos, Targets and other crowded places “and yet here, we’re so limited on what we can do. And our church takes every precaution to keep everybody safe.”
Not everyone’s rushing to return
At Shelter Cove Community Church on Coffee Road in Modesto, Jeremy Thiessen, associate executive pastor, said the court ruling and state guidelines don’t “really change anything that we’re doing, operationally.”
The church’s congregants run the gamut from really needing communal worship to not feeling they’re ready to return to in-person services, he said. Sometimes that’s a personal health issue, sometimes because a family member’s health is compromised
Depending on what church leaders hear, week to week, they’ve added services and they’ve eliminated services, Thiessen said. “The online thing has stayed consistent all the way through, which has been a real gift.”
During online services, which are primarily over Facebook, staff use chat features to greet and talk with church members, which helps them remain part of the Shelter Cove community even at home. the pastor said. “Just last week, we heard from people who were so appreciative of what the church is doing, even though because of their comfort level, they haven’t been here in months.”
Thiessen said he and his fellow church leaders have worked throughout the pandemic to balance worshippers’ physical health with the damaging effects isolation can have on mental and emotional health.
Shelter Cove has had services on the lawn, and drive-in services, added Ed Kelley, executive pastor. “The bottom line is JT and I have been adapting all the time to be more and more careful. We have more and more cleaning crews, more and more of these (sanitizer) dispensers everywhere, etc, etc. ... It’s been a pivoting every week.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2021 at 1:47 PM.
