Starting today, church services can now be held under tent canopies for any number of people as long as social distancing guidelines are met.
Should things continue to improve, guidelines could be loosened again to allow upwards of 25% of a church’s flock to sit inside the worship hall.
But for Metairie’s Memorial Baptist Church drive-in services are drawing parishioners to hear the gospel in the comfort of their own cars.
Pastor Dan Pritchett talked about the effort to bring the word outside the church to the people.
“When you go outside there is a perspective that you get, you don’t have to be held in by a building,” Pritchett says. “You don’t to be particularly protected by building.”
Pritchett sees the new guidelines of allowing 25% into the church as a way to add seating for those who want to sit inside the air-conditioned tabernacle as the weather begins to heat up pushing toward summer.
The idea of a drive-in church service is nothing new, it’s been around since the 1950s when preachers started bringing people to church in their cars and listened through the drive-in theatre car window speakers.
For Pastor Pritchett, it’s a high tech affair.
The service is streamed online on the church’s Facebook page and broadcast on a low-power transmitter that covers the parking lot.
The pulpit is the front steps of the church and cars are guided into parking spaces opposite from what is painted on the ground.
“We do a drive-in worship service where we bring our praise band out on the front steps and then I preach, we’ll be able to hopefully bring out lawn chairs—and of course be at a good social distance.”
