Editor’s note: Updated May 1 to reflect new language in Illinois’s extended stay-at-home order.
Governor J.B. Pritzker’s extension of the shelter-at-home order until May 30 was met with approval by some and dismay by others, even as many other states began relaxing restrictions designed to combat spread of Coronavirus—including limitations on church meetings. In Illinois, enforcement of the group meeting ban has been uniformly enforced across the state, including forbidding parking lot gatherings billed as “drive-in church” soon after the ban began March 15. Until now.
“I think the pressure is increasing on pastors, dealing with death and loss on one hand, and the desire to reopen on the other,” said Kevin Carrothers, associational mission strategist for Salem South Baptist Association.
Churches in several southern Illinois towns acknowledged a desire to return to regular worship meetings ahead of the May 30 deadline. And news that churches are successfully opposing government enforcement in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kansas prompted some to ask, “Why not here?”
Baptist leaders are dealing with the tension between good citizenship, protection of vulnerable populations, and religious freedom. At the center for Baptists: local church autonomy.
“As Southern Baptists, our churches are autonomous,” said IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams. “They each make their own decisions. While region, context, and church size are all issues that should be factored into their decisions, we all want to look out for the well-being of our church families and neighbors. And IBSA’s role is to provide resources churches may use to make wise decisions.”
IBSA will help facilitate a discussion later this month for church leaders as they handle the challenges associated with reopening. Information about an online forum will be publicized ahead of the virtual town hall-type meeting.
Church leaders were encouraged by the new inclusion of religious assembly as an “essential” activity in Pritzker’s new stay-at-home order, provided people maintain social distancing guidelines and wear face coverings. CDC guidelines limit gatherings to 10 or fewer people, the order notes, adding, “Religious organizations and houses of worship are encouraged to use online or drive-in services to protect the health and safety of their congregants.”
Illinois officials previously had discouraged drive-in worship services, while some churches across the country successfully filed suit to protect their right to hold them. At a May press briefing, Pritzker said he is listening to the science as it evolves and trying to make decisions accordingly. “We want people to be able to worship,” the governor said. “We want people to do it safely.”
The needs of churches in different parts of the state are noteworthy. Church leaders in the hard-hit Chicago metro area have dealt with many more cases of COVID-19 and resulting deaths, while downstate, cases are relatively fewer. Still, as the number of confirmed cases statewide nears 50,000 with more than 2,100 deaths, the pandemic is felt everywhere.
Carrothers cited the outbreak reported at an assisted living facility in Mt. Vernon, affecting at least 23 residents and staff. One Baptist church there suffered three deaths among its memberhip. And in Effingham, an IBSA pastor shared that he conducted a “virtual funeral” for a 102-year-old church member, because in-person attendance was prohibited, hardly a fitting memorial for a saint who taught Sunday school for 90 years, he noted.
“The whole grieving process has been derailed,” Carrothers observed, both about the nature of funeral services during the pandemic restrictions, and the rising urgency of crisis management in its wake.
Even as southern Illinois witnesses increased illness and death, state representative Darren Bailey filed suit in Clay County to end the extension of Gov. Pritzker’s sheltering order until May 30. “Enough is enough!” Bailey told the Southern Illinoian newspaper. “I filed this lawsuit on behalf of myself and my constituents who are ready to go back to work and resume a normal life.”
Caught in the tension between these opposing viewpoints: pastors and church leaders who want to minister faithfully in what could be a long and difficult season.