SLO County churches can hold parking lot services, but here’s why most remain online
San Luis Obispo County announced April 22 that houses of faith are allowed to hold “drive-in” style services to maintain social distancing practices and prevent the spread of coronavirus — however, most are staying online until further notice.
On April 26, Mountainbrook Church in San Luis Obispo held a parking lot trial run.
While it was not a full service, Lead Pastor Rick Olmstead invited the congregation to join together in the church’s lot for car games and prayers. Everyone was told they must remain in their vehicles.
“People are yearning to come together at every level of our community right now,” Olmstead said. “People are just excited.”
The church had actually ordered a radio transmitter when the stay-at-home order went into place to allow people to tune into services via their car radio. The hope was to hold parking lot services from the beginning, but the county did not permit it at the time, according to Olmstead.
After weeks of relatively low increases in the number of local coronavirus cases, the county began planning for a phased reopening and allowed houses of worship to get an early start through parking lot services.
However, many churches and houses of faith, especially in San Luis Obispo, don’t have access to a parking lot and must remain closed or hold online services until they can reopen their doors.
Others with parking lots have chosen to remain online as well.
The Mountainbrook pastor said the church was still uncertain how about how frequently they would hold parking lot services, if at all, but he was glad they were able to come together for an evening filled with games and prayer after weeks apart.
Olmstead said he has missed seeing people’s faces, but there is a silver lining to online services.
“It’s been different, but I think its a new paradigm for a church to think about who they are when they can’t gather together,” Olmstead said. “I know that we’re connecting with at least two to three times more people than we did when we were meeting here.”
Olmstead said 5,000 people streamed the church service on Easter, when typically the church only sees a few hundred at in-person services. He said he believes online services allow people to experience church from the comfort of their homes.
Next steps for local houses of faith
On Friday, the county released the phased plan to reopen San Luis Obispo County, called Steps To Adapt and Reopen Together (START) — which includes a detail plan to reopen houses of faith.
The county’s plan cannot go into effect until Gov. Gavin Newsom lifts the statewide stay-at-home order.
Grace Central Coast Pastor Tim Theule was one of the stakeholder leaders involved in the START process.
Theule said he and 50 other faith leaders met virtually to discuss what is necessary for their communities to reopen. He and 10 other faith leaders were able to review the plans before they were publicized.
“While our faith communities are eager and anxious to gather again face to face in our services of varying sizes, we also understand the need to limit our numbers and continue the practice of social distancing as part of this phased process,” Theule said at a county news briefing last Wednesday.
Under Phase One of the county’s plan, houses of faith will be allowed to open with some restrictions.
The county will still encourage online services, however in-person gatherings will be allowed so long as family groups are separated by six-feet of space.
In addition to the measures that all businesses will be required to follow, the county’s plan details how houses of faith should go about reopening.
The county’s plan says houses of faith should implement one-way foot traffic, have people monitoring social distancing, implement a phased entrance and release, and use ushers to provide seating assignments.
The county’s plan also recommends houses of faith add additional services to lower the number of attendees at any given service and offer special services for people with weakened immune systems or those who may be at higher risk.
Theule said one of the most challenging aspects moving forward will be the ability to provide services through multiple platforms. He said as houses of faith begin to reopen, they would also like to continue to offer online services for those who continue to stay at home out of precaution.
There is no set timeline for houses of faith to reopen.
This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 2:32 PM.
