{"id":6312,"date":"2020-06-15T09:51:58","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T13:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=6312"},"modified":"2025-08-24T10:50:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T14:50:31","slug":"virtual-comfort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2020\/06\/15\/virtual-comfort\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Comfort"},"content":{"rendered":"

Josh Tate considers himself an introvert. As such, self-quarantine doesn\u2019t strike him as too bad. There\u2019s a part of him that really doesn\u2019t mind being in isolation. But he is also what he calls a \u201cprofessional extrovert.\u201d Tate is a pastor at State Road Advent Christian Church in Mapleton, Maine. \u201cI think being a pastor is irreducibly relational,\u201d Tate says.<\/p>\n

Rapid policy changes in response to COVID-19 have caused upheaval in most sectors of life. Churches and other houses of worship find themselves in particularly strange circumstances.<\/p>\n

State Road held its last normal Sunday service on March 15. During the service, Tate told worshippers that the church planned to keep meeting. By the middle of the next week, however, plans had totally changed. State Road canceled all church meetings.<\/p>\n

Dale Charles is co-pastor of Ignite Church of Lancaster in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Ignite Church is a small, urban congregation. Charles described a similar change of plans. \u201cWhen the coronavirus started coming, we decided we were going to have church anyway,\u201d Charles said. \u201cThe next Sunday, we had double attendance because of other churches shutting down.\u201d Charles hadn\u2019t expected that surge. By the next Sunday, they too had canceled services.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dale Charles at his new pulpit.<\/p><\/div>\n

Many churches have started to livestream their services. Ignite Church worshippers have met via YouTube Live. The technology was glitchy at times. Lags and pauses complicated their simple Bible study. Charles wasn\u2019t very happy with the setup.<\/p>\n

State Road is much larger than Ignite Church. State Road has more resources available. The church recently spent around $2,000 to improve its streaming setup.<\/p>\n

Sunday services are only a small part of church life. Pastoral visitation cannot continue. Children\u2019s clubs are canceled. Pastors cannot meet with people they are advising. Church buildings sit empty. In times of upheaval, many people seek help from the church. In this situation, they can\u2019t. At least, they can\u2019t do it in traditional ways.<\/p>\n

Charles has started calling and texting his church members regularly. It hasn\u2019t been an easy adjustment for him, but he wants to keep checking in. He feels that he hasn\u2019t cultivated online relationships very well in the past. He is trying to quickly strengthen his digital communication skills. \u201cI\u2019ve tended to see technology as a business tool, and not great for relationships,\u201d Charles said. He\u2019s trying to be more personable in texts and calls.<\/p>\n

Tate has joined Facebook. He is using his statuses and posts to stay connected with his church members. He is doing much more phone conversation than before. In the absence of children\u2019s clubs, he is using Facebook to encourage parents to fill these roles with their children. Tate sees these measures as ways to tide the congregation over. He looks forward to seeing his parishioners in person again. \u201cMy job is to be in relationships with people,\u201d Tate said. \u201cThat\u2019s made very difficult by isolation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tate\u2019s job itself is in an unusual position. \u201cI want to work hard and earn my living \u2013 and I can\u2019t do my job,\u201d Tate said. As a full-time pastor, he has nothing else to fall back on. Tate has encouraged church members to consider redirecting their usual giving to needy members of the community instead of to the church. State Road also continues to employ its janitors. They now clean the empty building.<\/p>\n

As co-pastor of a small church, Charles also works as an auto mechanic to support himself. This business is considered essential, but it has slowed down. Charles hopes to take this extra time to connect one-on-one with his church members.<\/p>\n

Both pastors see hope in the situation. Charles senses a new thoughtfulness in his city. He hopes that he can use his extra time to help people. And even in uncertain times, Tate feels support by his community. \u201cI think people are extending a lot of grace because of the current situation,\u201d he said. It is the hope of both pastors that they can still bless their communities. They believe there is a purpose even in this crisis. All we have to do is find it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Josh Tate considers himself an introvert. As such, self-quarantine doesn\u2019t strike him as too bad. There\u2019s a part of him that really doesn\u2019t mind being in isolation. But he is also what he calls a \u201cprofessional extrovert.\u201d Tate is a pastor at State Road Advent Christian Church in Mapleton, Maine. \u201cI think being a pastor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8345,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6312\/revisions\/8345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}