News

A pastor in the village of Waldo, population 500, prays for good weather and a packed parking lot on Easter – even though her church will stay empty. Worshippers at Trinity United Methodist, which has 84 members, will watch the Rev. Denise Kwiatkowski (kwai-at-KOW-ski) deliver her sermon outdoors, at the church carport. The service will be broadcast through a low-frequency FM radio transmitter as congregants follow along on the radio and stay inside vehicles, parked in a semicircle that faces the church.

Just days before churches celebrate Easter, Gov. Tony Evers said small gatherings and drive-in worship services are allowed under his “safer at home” order. The clarification comes after days of confusion for several Dane County churches that reported receiving conflicting information from state and local officials about whether such services comply with the restrictions imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19.

MADISON, Wis.– While messages of gratitude are pouring in for doctors and nurses on the front lines, we can’t forget about those who are providing support through different means: chaplains. Kendra McIntosh is the chaplain supervisor at UW Health. Although she and her team aren’t providing medicine and hospital beds, they are providing emotional and spiritual support for families as they work through these difficult times.

MADISON — Falls Baptist Church just wants to bring its faith family together for outside Easter Services — in as safe a way as possible amid the COVID-19 outbreak. But Gov. Tony Evers and his ever-expanding emergency orders curtailing civil liberties aim to put an end to such sacred gatherings. The Menomonee Falls church hopes to hold drive-in-style worship , in which parishioners tune into the Easter services  on their vehicle radios in Falls Baptists’ parking lot. They would be together in spirit and body, but a safe distance apart with their car windows up. It would seem they would…

Spiritual practices tether us to God. That’s why we do them. We don’t engage in spiritual practices so that we will become more spiritual or so that we might attain more wisdom or love from God, we practice being with God so that we can be with God. The long-term effects of practicing being with God are profound. As we expose our (real) selves to the Lord, a healing work churns through our bodies, through our thoughts and through our emotions. Sometimes it’s a slow grind and other times it feels something like a miracle—a sharp movement from darkness to light…

When Francis Schaeffer released his How Shall We Then Live book and video series in 1976, the evangelical community didn’t know what to do about popular culture. Few people attempted to make connections as Scheaffer did with his history-based critique. Today, there are lots of voices to help guide Christians in how to live in contemporary culture. Alan Noble, editor-in-chief at Christ and Pop Cuture website, is one of those. He is an English professor at Oklahoma Baptist University and spoke at Upper House in Madison recently on the topic, “Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in a Distracted Age.”

Helen Ergen oversees the children’s ministry at Southbrook Church, 11010 W. Saint Martins Road, Franklin. For the past three years, the church has held a Special Friends Easter Egg Hunt for children with special needs. The event was designed for children and caregivers who have autism, spectrum issues or mobility limitations, according to Jonathan Misirian, lead pastor and Franklin police chaplain. However, this year, concerns over the coronavirus pandemic forced the event’s cancellation.

Making sacrifices during the Lenten season has taken on new meaning in recent weeks for Christians anxious to observe upcoming Holy Week and Easter celebrations, which for many are the most important faith events of the year. Meanwhile, faith institutions everywhere are quickly establishing new routines and practices, many of them involving online services and “virtual” gatherings, all prompted by social distancing restrictions and other rules put in place to slow the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We now have 8-track churches in a streaming world…the church is struggling to adapt,” is how the Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III put it in his sermon on Sunday morning for Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Notice I said “sermon for,” not “sermon at.” Because like churches all across the nation, Sunday worship is now coming through Facebook Live or You Tube or Zoom or some other video platform, beamed into people’s homes. I have spent the past three Sundays surfing worship (that’s the worship nerd in me), trying to get a sense of how churches are doing this,…

What does it mean to be the church when we can’t touch each other? During the physical distancing of COVID-19, I can see and hear you, individually, but I can’t be with you. We can hear a message, but not simultaneously share the reaction. We can sing, but not hear each other as a choir.