{"id":46234,"date":"2020-03-24T12:46:21","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T16:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=46234"},"modified":"2020-03-24T12:46:29","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T16:46:29","slug":"covid-19-and-churches-shaking-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2020\/03\/covid-19-and-churches-shaking-hands\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19 and Churches Shaking Hands?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

 Dr. Glenn Mollette<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\nIn the old days, Church pastors frowned on their church members staying home to\nwatch television preachers Rex Humbard, Jerry Falwell or Robert Schuller. The\nsick and the very elderly were typically pardoned but that was as far as grace\nwas extended.  The vast majority of churches across the land did not\ntelevise their services or broadcast church on the radio. Traditionally\nchurches have preferred keeping their flock coming to the “house of\nGod.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essentially most churches haven’t changed their philosophy.\nCongregations have always enjoyed “gathering” to sing, hear sermons,\neat meals together and importantly -shake hands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Media ministry in the old days was usually reserved for the\nlarge and affluent churches that could afford to buy television time or at\nleast radio air time. Television broadcasting has always been expensive and so\nvery few churches have been able to televise their services. A few more\nchurches through the years have been able to afford radio time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember one of my old-time preacher friends shaming his\ncongregation one Sunday. He said, “One reason you people should not sit\nhome and watch church on your television is because you can’t shake hands with\nyour television.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The church has always placed a lot of emphasis on\n“togetherness, shaking hands, hugging and embracing others.” \nNow, no one wants to shake hands and embrace each other. Because of Covid-19\npeople are trying to stay six feet apart. Furthermore, almost every minister\nand congregation in the country has the ability to broadcast his or her service\nvia the Internet or Facebook. Media ministry now is available to almost\neveryone. Ministers now want people to tune in on Facebook or whatever media\nthey are using. Ministers still prefer that people attend church, but if\nthey are the “ones” being watched then it’s fine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s ironic how things change. What used to be kind of taboo\nfor some churches is widely embraced now. One of the reasons is because it’s so\navailable. It’s also affordable. People have computers and cell phones. People\nare on Facebook or have some other Internet accessibility. Radio airtime is\nmore affordable in many areas. Things and times change. Plus, we’ve never been\nhit by anything like this pandemic where people are being told to stay home and\nthat church is off limits. Whoever thought that church attendance might be\nordered by the governor to be off limits? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many houses of worship began building their websites years\nago so that members could do their giving online. This is a good thing\nespecially if people are already in the habit of donating this way. Churches\nwho do not gather typically never recoup their giving. Some faithful members\nwill catch up on charitable giving but most will not. Churches along with\neveryone will suffer during this pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Houses of faith will survive during this virus crisis but\nlife will change for most congregations. Many will be excited to get back to\nthe church pew and shaking hands when they can. Or, they may conclude they\ndon’t need to shake hands anymore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 Dr. Glenn Mollette In the old days, Church pastors frowned on their church members staying home to watch television preachers Rex Humbard, Jerry Falwell or Robert Schuller. The sick and… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":46235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46234"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}