Virtual services, egg hunt ready for Easter

The time surrounding Easter Sunday is usually a time filled with special services, gatherings and celebrations at churches. However, this year church pews will be empty and events marking Easter on April 12 will look remarkably different for many churches in Whitefish in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At First Presbyterian Church downtown, Easter usually means a sanctuary filled with flowers, children’s events and community members. This year the church will be streaming its Easter service online only.

Pastor Tim Dalstrom says for many of the church members this may be the first time in their lives they haven’t attended church in-person on Easter Sunday, but while COVID-19 has changed church operations much remains the same.

“The message is one of hope and certainly that’s the message of Easter anyway,” he said.

Gov. Steve Bullock on March 26 issued a stay-at-home order in an effort to curb the spread of he virus.

Churches have been making modifications to their normal routines for a few weeks now in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. In-person gatherings have been canceled, but churches are turning more to digital streaming and digital communication to stay connected.

Whitefish Assembly is taking virtual gatherings to the next level by creating a fully-virtual 3D tour Easter Egg Hunt that is available on its website.

Associate Pastor John Michael Weaver said when the church saw that the coronavirus was becoming more of a concern it began looking at creative ways to bring families together.

When the stay-at-home order was announced, the church organized a small group of volunteers in less than 24 hours to hide Easter eggs inside its building and used a special camera to create a virtual egg hunt.

“We had a completely new idea that we haven’t seen anywhere or done by anyone else,” he said. “What if we used the virtual tour cameras that are popular in real estate listings and created a fully-virtual, 3D tour of a building where Easter eggs had been hidden all around?”

For the hunt, children and families can count up the eggs and enter their answers into a competition on the church’s website and then win prizes that will be delivered or shipped.

The egg hunt was announced to the Whitefish Assembly congregation on Sunday, but the church wanted to make sure it was available to anyone who wanted to participate.

“We would love to open up this fun experience to our community, state, and even the world,” Weaver said. “We think it could be a great way to unite and have fun in a time where some good news could really be nice.”

To participate in the virtual Easter Egg Hunt, visit https://whitefishassembly.com/hunt.

Prior to the stay at home order, First Presbyterian had been streaming its services online, but the number of folks watching has increased exponentially.

“People are really depending on this to be connected,” Dalstrom said. “It’s important right now to be connected to people and the places that are familiar.”

Dalstrom sees some positives that have come out of the pandemic.

“In many respects it has brought us together and helped us connect better,” he said. “We’re doing more than we’ve ever done before to reach out and help one another.”

He says the church has been bagging food for those in need and making hand sanitizer to give out, and using phone calls as a way to connect.

“We’re not social distancing — we’re staying connected — we’re physically distancing,” he said. “We have to do more now than ever before to stay connected.”

At Christ Lutheran Church, services have been broadcast on KJJR Radio for several years, but it wasn’t until recently that they began video streaming services online.

Deidre Dunlap, business administrator for the church, said the pandemic has made the church look at new ways of connecting including holding adult Bible study sessions and youth group meetings through online video conferencing.

“We gathered a bunch of people together when we saw what was happening and decided to figure out how to get ready to stream the services,” she said. “We’re sending out emails to people letting them know about services and we’re calling all our members or writing them letters to stay in touch.”

The church normally holds an egg hunt for the children and brunch on Easter Sunday, but those won’t take place this year. Instead its Holy Week services for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday will be streamed through its website.

Dunlap says the church is adapting and some of the technology implemented may stay beyond the pandemic, but this time hasn’t come without change.

“We have people that always decorate the alter for Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday and they’ve been doing that for 50 years and it’s hard for them not to be able to do that,” she said. “It’s a different time.”

At True Life Church, Pastor Kent Morrison says as his church has a small congregation and streaming services online is new, but it’s been going well.

“The greatest challenge is keeping everyone connected and encouraging them in this time of isolation,” he said. “We’re making calls asking for prayer requests and also what needs people might have for groceries or financial difficulties.”

Last week Morrison was planning his message to his congregation asking them to look beyond themselves and regain connections that would provide benefits.

“We want everyone to not feel so isolated,” he said. “I’m going to encourage them to find three people that they would normally have contact with and catch up with them this week.”

Members of the Whitefish Ministerial Association met recently online to begin planning ways to assist other groups who are helping those in the community during the health crisis through providing meals and other services. Morrison pointed out that churches and church leaders during this time are seeking ways to serve the community by assisting those organizations that are already in place.

“There’s a number of people in the community that are high risk and don’t have family to turn to for help,” he said. “Those of us with support systems can often take that for granted.”