By Chris Fortune
Eudora churches are rolling out their own reopening plans following the release last week of Gov. Laura Kelly’s phased plan to ease the state’s stay-at-home order.
In Phase I of the plan, which began this week, places of worship may have more than 10 people at a service as long as they are following public health guidelines and allowing 6 feet between individuals, according to the governor’s office.
However, the Rev. Ross Baker of Eudora United Methodist Church said they will not be having in-person services at least through the end of May.
“We will re-evaluate things the last week of May to see how things are looking and we are basing this off of guidelines from Gov. Kelly’s office,” he said.
Baker said online services will continue to be available on Facebook and YouTube. They also set up a Zoom link last Sunday, and previous services are available on the Eudora United Methodist Church website.
Online services will continue for those who aren’t comfortable attending when in-person services resume, and members are encouraged to continue safe practices.
“We will highly recommend that people wear masks in addition to providing to those who don’t have them,” Baker said.
The Rev. Josh Monhollon of Eudora Baptist Church said indoor services will not resume until June. A three-phase reopening plan was posted to the church Facebook page.
Under the plan, online services will continue until May 17. The last two services in May will be outdoors. In June, there will be two separate in-person Sunday services at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
The earlier service will be for senior adults and those who are immunocompromised, Monhollon said. The church will be thoroughly cleaned before Sunday and wiped down between services, he said.
Normally there aren't two separate services on Sunday, but the decision was made so there would be fewer than 90 people gathering in the church during Phase 3 of the reopening plan, which begins June 1.
The Rev. Randy Watson of the Eudora Church of Christ said they will have in-person services this Sunday with a normal schedule that follows social distancing and sanitizing guidelines.
“We take the safety precautions to make sure that things are sanitary and people are spaced,” he said.
Watson said his approach would be different if his membership was larger.
“If we had large crowds, we might have to split into two services, but we don’t have large crowds,” he said. “We have plenty of room to leave space between members.”
Services at the church will continue to be streamed on Facebook for members who aren’t ready to attend in-person services.
“We have some of the elderly who still are not going to be getting out,” Watson said. “We want to make sure they have that option, so they don’t feel disconnected from everybody.”
The Rev. Mike Scully of the Holy Family Catholic Church said they plan to have in-person services as well this Sunday with fewer than 10 people scattered throughout the church.
Scully said there is not a process to choose who comes into the church, but when they are approaching the limit of 10 people, they will have to turn people away.
Online services will still be provided on Facebook for those who can’t attend in person. Scully said this will likely remain the plan until the middle of June.
The Rev. Jerry Mercer of Hesper Friends Church said they won’t have in-person services for the foreseeable future, but online services will continue.
“We were thinking about starting on Mother’s Day, but with the new cases in the county, we decided not yet,” Mercer said.
The Rev. Shannah McAleer of St. Paul United Church of Christ said in-person services will not resume until July.
“Our No. 1 concern is for the safety of our members and community,” she said in a message.
Online services will continue to be available on Facebook. McAleer said the process was weird at first, but now she and the members are getting used to it.
“We’re a small family-sized church, so we love to be together,” she said. “So we’re missing that.”
The Rev. Jeremiah Holcomb of The Refuge Christian Church said in-person services may not resume until June. In-person services were originally going to begin this Sunday, but Holcomb changed the date after Kelly released her plan.
The earliest the church may meet is May 24, but June 7 is more likely, he said.
Last Sunday, the church started its online services at 9 a.m. instead of the normal time of 10:30 a.m. to reflect future changes.
The church will no longer meet at Eudora Middle School once in-person services resume but instead at Cornerstone Family Church’s facility before its services.
“So that’s a big change for us and our people,” he said.
Holcomb said the church members have responded well to the new start time, and they can still watch the services on Facebook or YouTube.
“We’re thinking about all of the things we can do to promote a healthy environment while still providing people the opportunity to gather as the church family we are,” he said.
Reach reporter Chris Fortune at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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