Antioch Community Church — A United Methodist Congregation issued the following announcement on April 14.
In a spring of crowded restaurants and sold-out concerts, could packed pews be next?
The Rev. Tom Berlin, lead pastor of Floris United Methodist Church in Herndon, Virginia, certainly expects so.
“I think people are beginning to return to worship, and I think Easter is a real opportunity for people who have decided that online worship may be their primary mode,” Berlin said. “Easter is a time when they will think, ‘You know, I’d like to go back and be in the physical space of the sanctuary and really see people.’”
For the past two years, churches have struggled to find safe and meaningful ways, amid a global pandemic, to mark Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. This year, congregations have high expectations as observances of Holy Week and Easter come with COVID cases at a relatively low ebb and vaccinations on the rise in much of the world.
As pandemic restrictions have eased, people have returned to a variety of public venues. At the same time, in-person worship attendance in the U.S. has remained down across faith traditions.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Antioch Community Church — A United Methodist Congregation
