MAPLEWOOD, Mo. — Many St. Louis area churches are returning to in-person services.
People are gathering at The Gathering–McCausland in Maplewood once again.
This new normal means church members are pre-registering their attendance and scanning a QR code for church-related information rather than picking up a bulletin on their way out.
Sabra Engelbrecht is The Gathering executive director of ministries.
“We felt like with the numbers lowering in our community and hospitalizations down, we were at a place where we could do this and do it safely,” said Engelbrecht.
Arriving early for services, Megan Melville described what she missed.
“Just the connection, in-person connection,” said Melville, “and to be able to go with my mom today, that’ll be exciting.”
“I’m comfortable with the precautions that have been put in place and I’m glad to be here,” Cassandra Kaufman, another worshiper, said.
Those precautions include limiting capacity to 35%, social distancing in the main sanctuary and asking people not to linger and visit inside the building.
“We have some overflow spaces set up in the lobby and elsewhere," Engelbrecht said. "We have kids in an area where they can space out and have a lot of distance between them. Plus, they each get their own little activity bag.”
Pastor Matt Miofsky said it’s been a year of phone calls, Zoom conferences and one-on-one counseling.
“There are two things I have learned,” said Miofsky. “One is that the church is really resilient. Even through a pandemic where we can’t gather in person, people have stayed incredibly engaged with giving and worshiping and serving online.”
This marks The Gathering-McCausland’s second week back to in-person services. Those who attended had to pre-register online.
“We’re having people say they tried to register and were full,” Engelbrecht said, “so we’ll continue to evaluate our numbers and see if we need to add additional services.”
On his way into services, John Gransbach said, “I have trust and faith in the people here and I’m a nurse myself, so I know what to look out for.”
Todd Roach added, “I just think it’s great. We’ve been gone for so long and miss the fellowship with everybody.”
Engelbrecht said The Gathering is offering communion, each week. The method of distribution is individual, self-serve.