The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered our daily life overnight and local churches have not been immune.
Cornerstone Baptist Church is the largest church in Orillia, hosting about 650 people for a typical Sunday morning gathering.
Pastor Paul Carter says the church and its community have been following the COVID-19 pandemic closely.
"We are very fortunate that one of the doctors that is heading up the COVID-19 outbreak at the hospital is a member of our church," Carter said.
"The fire chief is a member of our church as well, so we are receiving extraordinary up-to-date information."
Once gatherings of over 250 people were discouraged by health officials last week, the Cornerstone church decided to cancel its upcoming gatherings, at least at the church itself.
However, Carter and church members found a different way to meet. This past Sunday, the church live-streamed a service with 10 essential personnel in the building.
"We encouraged our people to follow along online and there was a very good response to that," Carter said.
"I think people are very aware that everyone is doing this and it certainly isn't a failure of faith; it's actually an act of neighbourly concern, following the guidelines put out by the government and health services."
Around 1,400 people tuned in for the live stream of Sunday's service and others watched it later.
Church leaders had a roundtable to discuss about it is planning on responding locally to those impacted by the global pandemic.
"We are ramping up our food ministry, which is a program where we deliver food and basics to our seniors and shut-ins," Carter explained.
"We are anticipating there are going to be a lot of seniors who need food delivery and have someone come in and do a few basics. That can make a big difference in a time like this."
The Cornerstone church also has a group of high school students doing neighbourhood canvassing, taking around flyers to offer assistance to seniors who need someone to go out and pick up necessities.
"We are hopeful that this will just create a tighter community," Carter said.
The Orillia Community Church proceeded with its service this past Sunday.
Pastor Michael Bells explained that the church followed the Ministry of Health guidelines that required groups of no more than 250 people; it had around 50 people in attendance.
"We had people at the door encouraging (not to) shake hands or hug or anything like that," Bells said.
"Normally, we have coffee, tea and cookies, but we eliminated all that. For our offering, we just had baskets at the door so there was no physical contact with things."
This Sunday, with restrictions down to 50 people in any gathering, the Orillia Community Church, like most others, has been forced to shut its doors, but, much like the Cornerstone church, it is finding different avenues to keep its services going.
"I don't know about live stream, but we are looking at videoing part of a service," Bells said.
"We know we won't be meeting for at least two to three weeks and we will continue to follow all protocols and try to think creatively to keep our sense of community."
The Orillia Community Church is also sending out information via email, its website and Facebook, encouraging people to keep in contact with each other.
"Think of some of the seniors you know or people you know with compromised immune systems. See if there are ways you can assist those people, not just within your faith community but within your neighborhood," Bells said.
