A Fire Escape into a Pulpit: Innovation in the Midst of a Pandemic

Like millions of others, my church experience over the past two months or so has been marked by innovative attempts by church leaders to connect with congregations, and congregational members to connect with one another. 

Fortunately, social media and the internet have been able to come to the rescue in many cases. The use of Zoom or Webex or some other electronic face-to-face program has allowed for a unique form of interaction to alleviate the isolation of lock-down. Online worship services, sermons, and even participating in the eucharist have become the norm, rather than the exception. Email and other social media platforms have also been used in innovative ways to offset the consequences of being isolated from other humans. But technology cannot solve all the problems - sometimes good old-fashioned innovation comes to the rescue. Like what happened this past Sunday.

The Ontario government's recent allowing of church's to have a Drive-In Service (with physical contact restrictions still in place) opened up possibilities for people to actually gather together on a Sunday. So this Sunday, that is what Jerseyville Baptist Church did - and it worked wonderfully. Of course, we had to remain in the car. And, we had to honk the horn instead of clap. But, as the above pictures indicate, the fire exit became a great pulpit.