At least one drive-in church service set to be held

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For the first time in a month, the Mountainside Christian Fellowship congregation is planning to get together in fellowship on Sunday.

The province’s updated health orders now allow for drive-in church services, with certain restrictions such as people required to remain in their vehicles and to only attend with members of their own household.

Located north of Neepawa, the Mountainside Christian Fellowship congregation last met for a drive-in service at the church’s parking lot on Nov. 15.

They tried doing the same thing on Nov. 22, but provincial health officials arrived early to break up the group and fine the church $5,000 for violating public health orders.

“That was too bad,” pastor Floyd Loewen said Friday, adding their violation of health orders was a misunderstanding that caught them off guard and was not a deliberate attempt to flout the law.

“It didn’t interrupt our service, they just let us know it wasn’t being allowed anymore, so we just dispersed.”

This is in stark contrast to Springs Church in Winnipeg, whose leadership was deliberate in breaking public health orders by meeting for a parking-lot service in the midst of current level red health restrictions.

This action drew condemnation in the form of an open letter signed by various church officials, including Rev. Chad McCharles, an Anglican priest of the Diocese of Brandon.

“We find that your actions during the past days of encouraging Christians to disobey public health orders in the name of freedom are not an example of following Christ,” they wrote.

“We find that your insistence on the right to worship is not in keeping with Christ’s command to love our neighbour.”

For their part, Loewen said Mountainside Christian Fellowship’s approximately 80 members have no intention of disobeying public health orders, and that he has been in contact with officials to ensure Sunday’s proposed drive-in service is in compliance.

“We want to do things legal, so it’s safe for the people as far as the health regulations and all of that,” he said, adding that he looks forward to bringing the group back together, even if they are separated by vehicles.

The church has an outdoor speaker system that he said penetrates through vehicles nicely, allowing congregants to hear the service without having to roll down their windows.

“It brings people together, and it’s just more of a unified worship, because we sing … and even though they’re in their vehicles, it’s just the thought of being able to worship together and not just sitting in the confines of their homes,” Loewen said. “There’s some strength in that; being able to get together and worship together.”

Various Westman congregations have been meeting virtually throughout level red restrictions.

At Brandon’s Faith Fellowship Baptist Church, pastor Daniel Warne said they were able to meet in person during level orange, albeit at lessened capacities divided between two services.

When level red hit a month ago, they shifted to online-only services.

Every Sunday, they post a new video to YouTube for congregants to soak up — an accessible platform anyone with an internet connection should be able to view.

A small congregation without the required parking capacity nor technological capacity, he said they’re not pursuing a drive-in service at the moment. Although their preference would be to meet in person, he said the online format is their best alternative at the moment.

These are tough times for many people, he said, adding that the mental hurdles associated with recent health regulations have dominated recent services.

“We’ve just continued to encourage our people to find their hope in God — that he is the one to give us our hope, our joy, who brings us through any and all circumstances,” Warne said. “No matter what comes our way, no matter how hard times are and what we’re facing or dealing with, he’s still in control and he loves us.”

Although drive-in church services are now allowed, most other rules enacted a month ago under level red restrictions in the province’s Pandemic Response System remain in place until at least Jan. 8.

Public gatherings remain limited to five and people are not allowed to have visitors in their homes, with some exceptions for things such as health care services. Non-essential items may only be sold online or via curbside pickup, and restaurants are limited to delivery and takeout service only.

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

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with files from The Canadian Press