'Be our guest': Onsite worship resumes at various churches with precautions

Our pastor was doing the service from his home via Jitsi Meet. The 1st few weeks he sat on his couch, then brought a small podium from church. Two weeks ago he was at church with a few folks, then this past Sunday invited all who wanted to come to church to join him. There were about 30 of us there and many more on Jitsi. There were plenty of seats for us to observe social distancing, and it was a great delight to be back together in our own sanctuary.

[josh p]

One question I have for those pastors who resume service is how would that look with church discipline? If a family chose to stay home for say three or four months at what point is disobedience determined? Same could be asked at any point I guess but it does seem to add another challenge.

My church is explicitly asking those in vulnerable categories to stay home for now and is explicitly assuring any others who are uncomfortable about in-person meetings that there is no expectation or pressure for them to come. I think non-attendance would only become an issue if it continued for quite a while after some sort of comprehensive “all clear” message from the medical establishment, which doesn’t appear to be likely for as much as 18 months. This is assuming that they were being faithful to family worship around our recorded services each Sunday and not just blowing off Sunday worship entirely. And then there are always individual circumstances that warrant different approaches.