MIDWAY, Ky. (LEX 18) — To help slow the spread of the coronavirus, churches across Kentucky have changed how they're offering their services to members.
Midway Baptist Church, which seats about 200 people between two services on Sundays, decided to cancel in-person services indefinitely. The pews at the church have been empty since the second Sunday of March. Pastor Evan Rowe has relied on social media to deliver his message.
"We weren't a church that operated online at all," Rowe said.
As a result, the church had to learn to stream their services and created a YouTube channel.
In preparation for in-person services starting back this Sunday, church leaders had already removed the Bibles from the pews and sat out hand sanitizer.
"We were talking about having everyone come in through one door and exiting another door, and having two different worship services with an opportunity to clean in between," Rowe explained.
However, after an uptick in cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky, Pastor Rowe said they're going to wait.
"Obviously, there's questions about singing, questions about masks, questions about taking temperatures," Rowe said. "These are all things we are trying to figure out how to navigate the best that we can."
The church's goal is to protect the congregation's most vulnerable. For the foreseeable future, the pews at Midway Baptist Church will remain empty.
