At Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Circle Pines, pews remain taped off to promote social distancing. Pastor Ted Diedrick says in person attendance is about 60 percent what it was before the pandemic, but online viewing is more than making up the difference.
“With the online numbers, we are probably pretty close to where we were before COVID, maybe even a little above. Depending on how many people are viewing each hit,” said Diedrick.
He says lifting the COVID capacity limits may not make that much difference when it comes to in person attendance, but getting vaccinated will work to increase parishioners’ comfort levels.
“We have had a couple of them who have just returned in the last week or two because they’ve had their vaccine,” said Diedrick. “I anticipate that’s going to impact us probably greater than the last directive from the Governor. We find some people are very comfortable coming back, others are just more cautious.”
Last year Easter Services at many churches were on-line only. Now with attendance limits lifted and Easter approaching again, Pastor Diedrick says it’s hard to predict how many people to expect in the building.
“With Easter we’re not sure what to expect but what we do have, we have our live stream and we have TV’s down in the basement so if we have overflow and it’s getting too crowded we can send them downstairs and they can watch live stream. So they would still be in presence of the community and can share afterwards.
While the last year has required a number of changes, including services held in the parking lot, Diedrick says they’re hanging in there.
“God has blessed us, we’ve made it through.”
The latest announcement also lifts limits on weddings and funerals, but social distancing is still required.
