Member Church News: Coronavirus Impacts and Responses

The Waldensian Church in Italy has suspended all church activities.

Because of the corona crisis, the Zurich church council has banned church events where people eat and drink.They’re also recommending no greeting rituals, seating throughout the whole church and maintaining distance of one song sheet per person.

United Church of Christ leaders are sharing information with each other, listening to the latest data from world health organizations and taking directives from their local health departments to discern how best to take precautions as the coronavirus COVID-19 spreads across United States.

The stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is urging congregations to make decisions about worshiping in person based on what’s best for their community and the people gathered for worship.

United Church of Canada urges communities of faith to respond to COVID-19 with compassion, prevention, and prayer.

With the government advising that all meetings of over 100 be cancelled, the Protestant Church in the Netherlands will offer a broadcast meditation on Sunday—and also offers advice to its churches.

From the Uniting Church in Australia come stories of pastoral care in the coronavirus pandemic.

Pastors in the Seattle, Washington, area have put together an article on how churches can respond to the coronavirus.

Protestant churches in Spain are adapting to the government’s attempts to control the spread of the virus through “forced containment.”

Jeff Munroe, of Western Theological Seminary (in Holland, Michigan, USA) writes a meditation on Corona Virus and the Useless God.

The Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has released a Preparedness for Pandemics guide for congregations, and the Christian Reformed Church in North America is also offering advice for COVID-19 and your congregation.