REGIONAL churches are rejoicing amid the easing of restrictions that will allow more parishioners to attend services.
While places of worship are still navigating the COVID-19 rules, churches this Sunday will now be able to accommodate up to 20 people per room.
Potentially, churches can now house up to 80 people if they are accommodated in separate rooms.
For Mount Gambier Baptist Church pastor Cam Buchanan, the easing of restrictions was a welcome step for the church’s tight-knit community.
“Despite being an 800 square metre property, we can only hold 77 people plus staff,” Mr Buchanan said.
Although the church will start with 20 people in its main area of worship, plans are in the pipeline to have people in other rooms during services.
“We are working on how we can model this – we plan to have overflow rooms,” Mr Buchanan said.
“As a church, we need to lead the way about being socially responsible. We take that very seriously.”
But he said attendance numbers would need to be managed through a roster system.
Mr Buchanan said singing was still allowed in churches in South Australia under the tweaked rules.
“However, the COVID Safe Plan says care needs to be taken when singing,” he said.
Mr Buchanan said there were congregational specific rules that needed to be followed for all churches.
“There will be a questionnaire on the way in. We have to ask everybody about their movements and if they were unwell.
We will also have to wipe down surfaces and have dedicated people at the entrance,” Mr Buchanan said.
“We have an 18-page cleaning guide provided by the government. We know what is expected of us and we want to ensure we have a safe community.”
The issue of communion is still being navigated.
“The Christian faith is about oil, water, bread and wine. We will consider the safety of that,” the pastor said.
The church had opened the door to up to 10 people and had been offering services by live broadcast or pre-recorded platforms.
“There was a time where the building was completely closed, no-one felt safe coming,” Mr Buchanan explained.
Fortunately, he said the church had developed an online platform before the COVID-19 restrictions were swept in.
“We are community of 340 people that have strong outside of Sunday connection.”
Mr Buchanan said he hoped services would return to a sense of normality given humans needed social connectivity.
“It would be great to get back something where we do not have to look over our shoulder.”
