Lewis County Area Churches: This Easter, Hope Is Not Canceled

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With Easter season approaching, local church congregations have already been through nearly a month of not being able to gather in person due to restrictions regarding the spread of COVID-19.

A recent extension of stay-at-home orders from Gov. Jay Inslee means they may have to continue to endure separation for close to another month at least. But local pastors say that while their buildings may be dark, the heart of what they do is still beating strongly.

“Easter gatherings may be canceled, but the church is not canceled,” said Kyle Rasmussen, lead pastor for Bethel Church for the past 15 years. 

Rasmussen is just one example of local pastors who have had to quickly adjust to a changing world in order to continue to serve their congregations. At Bethel, live streamed weekend gatherings through Facebook and YouTube and small group meetings through the video chat app Zoom have replaced the church’s usually bustling campuses in Chehalis and downtown Centralia. Rasmussen said his message to his congregation has been wrapped around the Bible verse from John 14:1 that urges “Don’t let your hearts be troubled, but trust in God.”

“We believe we can have ‘un-troubled hearts in troubled times,’ ” Rasmussen said. “Hope never comes from our economy, government or our physical stamina. Hope comes from one single event … the resurrection of Jesus. Because Jesus conquered death, we, too, will overcome disease, cancer, COVID-19 or even death itself. There might be a shortage of hope in the world, but there is not a shortage of hope for Christ’s followers.”

Acknowledging the anxiety, sadness or fear that people may be feeling about the COVID-19 pandemic is important, said Zach Nerison, pastor of Community Presbyterian Church of Onalaska for two years, who has been live streaming services to the church’s 44 active members on its Facebook page. Nerison said as soon as the quarantine began, he changed courses in his preaching and began a series on Proverbs 15, which speaks about wisdom. Nerison said he has counseled his congregation to think carefully about where they get their information regarding COVID-19. For example, online sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website are potentially more reliable than Facebook posts, which can be inaccurate or push conspiracy theories.

“We know that Christ is wise and he commands us also to be wise,” Nerison said of what his message has been to his congregation. “He commands us to be discerning and he commands us to be righteous. For us, this means considering what we are going to say and when we do speak, do so in an accurate and helpful manner.”

Local Christian leaders said they are also trying to help members of their congregations to trust their faith and know better days are ahead. Mark Fast, lead pastor for Centralia Community Church of God for 10 years, has been live streaming Sunday morning services on Facebook for his church’s 500-550 members. The church has also been posting a daily connection video each evening, hosting noon prayer weekdays, offering online Bible studies and offering video chatting for youth and children. 

“Know that none of this surprises God and that he is out ahead of us in all of it,” Fast said of how he has counseled his congregation on current events. “We have a tremendous opportunity to personally grow and learn through the experience.”

Most local churches have moved to some sort of live-streamed, online worship service format. Matt March, who has been pastor of St. John’s Lutheran in Chehalis for the last five and a half years, has been using Zoom for his 100-member congregation. He said an estimated 70-80 of those members have used the app so far. March said not being physically together does not have to mean that the spirit of worshiping together is missing.

“I try not to call it virtual worship. That sounds fake and it’s not, it’s real,” March said. “This is real. This is us really coming together for real worship and real opportunities to connect.”

Eucharist, or communion, is a central element of Lutheran worship services, as well as many other Anglican churches. St. John’s Lutheran is one of a handful of local congregations to continue to celebrate the Eucharist while worshiping via live stream. March explained that each household chooses what they consume and he says the blessing over the items through Zoom and then they eat and drink together. It is the act of togetherness, not necessarily the act of eating and drinking a certain item is important, March explained. However, he does edit the communion portion of the service out of the service videos that are archived on their YouTube channel because he believes the Eucharist needs to be taken while in community with others.

“If we’re going to say this is real community, the table, the meal is always celebrated in community and we’re celebrating as a community,” March said. “When we’re live together, that’s the community of God gathering around Christ’s table and whether we’re together or spread out, we’re celebrating together as a community.”

Besides having to suddenly change how they are doing things, and keep up with quickly moving information, local pastors say they have had the challenge of how to continue to connect with all of the members of their churches. A healthy church congregation is often multigenerational and with different age ranges usually have differing opinions about using technology, especially for worship. Lewis County is a large, spread out community and churches can have members who may not have access to a reliable internet or cell signal. John Mutchler, lead pastor of the Chehalis Seventh-Day Adventist church for two years, said offering live streaming content through Zoom to his church’s 275 members was just one prong of his approach to connecting with his congregation. Phone calls, emails and even good old-fashioned letter writing have also played a significant part in making sure everyone feels included.

“Some people use Zoom, some people use email, some people only have a landline,” Mutchler said. “The question is how do we best meet all of their needs?”



Mutchler said he has stressed Philippians 4, verses 6-7 with his church members, emphasizing finding reasons for thanksgiving, even in difficult times. He said his Easter message will likely focus on John 2, in which disciples are fishing and Jesus comes to them, though they do not immediately recognize him. He tells them to throw their empty nets on the right side of the boat and when they obey, their nets are filled.

“Even though right now we feel isolated and we may not be able to see each other face to face, I want them to have that hope that Christ is still there. We may not immediately recognize him. He might be off on the shore and we can’t see him. But he fills the nets.”

A major tenant of the Christian faith is the concept that the church is not a building but is actually the people, noted March. He said the public health crisis has given Christians the opportunity to live this idea out in real life. He said he has been impressed with how people are still caring for one another while staying apart. One way was for each member of the church’s leadership team to be handed a page of the church directory and tasked with staying in touch with those people. March said he also had some members who are not in the high-risk category for COVID-19 who volunteered to shop for members who are high-risk and do not want to go out, and he’s already had some takers.

“The message is we are still here for one another,” March said. “I was careful to say it’s social distancing, not social isolation. So, we’ve been looking for ways to break that isolation for people.”

Many churches have also sought support from the larger church of their particular denomination to navigate these times. Fr. Milhton Scarpetta, who became pastor of the Catholic Parishes of Lewis County nine months ago, has been offering live streaming of local services as well as mass offered by the Archdiocese of Seattle. The parish counts about 1,500 active members between the parishes of St. Joseph’s in Chehalis and St. Mary’s in Centralia and has heavily used its website, Facebook and emails to check on parishioners. Scarpetta said the church buildings remain open to an extent, for private weekday prayers.

“The church will be open for private prayer for those who want to come and pray but … observing the social distancing,” Scarpetta said. “People know the regulations and they have been compliant with them.”

The stay at home orders not only affected how church members care for one another but how they participate in outreach to the community at large. At Bethel, weekly community dinners at the V.R. Lee building in Chehalis and lunches at the Hub City Mission have become to-go meals offered at lunchtime Tuesday at the Hub City Mission; Sunday afternoons at the Lewis & Clark Building; and Tuesday dinners at the Lewis & Clark Building. The Hub City Mission continues to offer food boxes the last Saturday of the month and Fresh Market Foods on the second Saturday of the month. The Bethel Easter Egg Hunt, which is attended by thousands of local youth, has been postponed to later in the summer “contingent upon health restrictions.” 

Over and over, churches reiterated that while their buildings may be dark, the work of the church continues to happen in big and small ways. Anyone needing assistance from a church or pastoral care need only reach out via Website, social media or phone. Having no physical gathering for Easter services is hard for congregations who know Easter is one of the seasons in the church when folks who may not attend worship services as regularly may decide to be part of a church service. Mutchler said his congregation of about 275 is about 400 people on Easter. 

“It’s hard because as Christians we want to reach everyone and seasons like Easter are a good time to do that,” Mutchler said. “As much as we would like to be in control of how do we reach these people, I still have to believe that God is in control and pray that God reaches these people and we can only do our best. We will have something out there.”

March said the shelter-in-place orders in Washington should not be a barrier to folks who do not have a regular church home. He said his church and most local churches offer easy links off their Web sites or social media to connect to worship services either live or archived. He said one of the nice things about the Zoom app is that participants can join without a mic or camera and remain a bit “anonymous” if they wish to see a service but not feel the pressure to participate. But he also said for anyone nervous about attending a church service this Easter, that COVID-19 has really been an equalizer between regular churchgoers and newcomers.

“All of us are king of on equal footing, even those of us who go to worship every week, this is all kind of new to us so we’re still learning how it works,” March said.

In fact, online church may even be a little easier for those who are not regular churchgoers, Fast noted. 

“Attending church online at home is one of the best ways to be able to experience church if you’re unsure what it’s about or just want to check it out,” Fast said. “There’s no risk to come to church online.”