European churches are coming back into live worship as many churches have reopened with restrictions for safety. Hoping the Covid 19 Coronavirus could disappear for good, churches are excited and worried at the same time. As churches began moving back to in-person services in late May, Christians state that interacting with a computer screen cannot replace them with gathering in person.
"Will people come back?"
"When will we able to worship in a crowded church again? Will the new online worshippers stay with us and will they come to church for worship? Will the Pastors and the churches really be able to do both online worship and worship in the church?"
"We were allowed to have 50 persons in the church building seated with a distance of 1 meter from each other," Bjerkseth said.
Shown to the record, Europe was especially hard hit by the virus and affected many believers. The WHO reporting 2.4 million cases as of June 14 and 188,001 deaths from Covid-19. The coronavirus has been reaching the most around Europeans.
Thomas Risager, a district superintendent in the Denmark Conference continue to worry about fellowship. He states that the safety measures will still continue at churches all the time.
"We have sermons, Bible studies, morning prayers, worship services, lectures, and everything needed for our people to stay fit in these unusual circumstances,"
"Currently, we have 40 playlists and 745 videos on this channel."
Pastor's state as time progressed, people are getting tired of being home and isolated from others. While our hearts are at a rush, pastors and churchgoers were obedient to the rules and regulations that the government provided.
"It is important for us, also at this time, to love our neighbor and that means keeping one another safe,"
"We did not want to put anyone at risk by opening the churches too soon. Everyone understood and respected this decision and did what they could to stay in contact with one another to ensure that morale stayed high."
Norway churches also made regular telephone calls to elderly and sick people as well as mailing a weekly church bulletin to all church members.
"Most of our members do their giving directly through the bank to get a tax reduction, so that part of the giving has not been influenced by the situation," Bjerkseth said. "However, those that usually give their offerings while being in the church have not had that possibility, so we have had a drop in income."
