FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.– Christmas Eve is tomorrow and many of you are weighing the option of going to a church service in person or attending virtually.
The Christ Community Church on the Fayetteville Square one church using Christmas as an opportunity to reopen its doors.
Director of Ministry for the church Andrew Brill tells it won’t be a permanent reopening, rather one in-person service on Christmas Eve.
Brill says, “with COVID numbers as high as they are we don’t feel it’s wise to regularly meet, but people still have spiritual and emotional needs to offer a Christmas eve service is pretty significant for that.”
Brill explains that the new space Christ Community Church has found itself in on the square can hold up to 430 people in a normal time, but due to COVID they won’t be able to have more than 200.
“It’s a 5 p.m. it’s socially distanced with masks the whole deal we feel like we can safely keep people apart and yet honor peoples desire to gather and worship together,” says Brill.
I asked Dr. Jennifer Dillaha with the Arkansas Department of Health how she feels about Churches like this having in-person services and she tells me wearing a mask at all times will be one of the keys.
“People of course will be will be very happy to see each other,” says Dr. Dillaha, “and it is going to be very hard for people at Christmas not to hug each other but we do encourage people to maintain that distance.”
And while Brill doesn’t feel Arkansas in a place where he should be holding in-person services regularly, he does think it more important than ever to stay connected.
Brill explains, “a lot of people recognize that this year more than ever before that the world that Jesus entered into was not a peaceful happy place all the time, and I think that resonates for people this year that is hasn’t before.”
Brill tells me there won’t be a reservation system for attending the service, but if there is a large turnout than expected they’ll have to defer people to their live stream option.
