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Despite the effects brought to the community, local churches faced the pandemic with resilience. St. Mary’s Catholic Parish and Mafair United Methodist Church were just two among many that withstood the trials Covid brought to their congregations.

Father Dustin Collins, pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ, said while the pandemic didn’t much affect the amount of people attending St. Mary’s before or after Covid, it did change some of their operations. Prior to Covid, Collins said there wasn’t an option for live streaming mass because it can only be attended in person.

“You can only have mass in person–it’s impossible to have it any other way, so the clergy of the church continued to have masses as normal,� Collins said. “We did stream those so people could at least view a mass online and participate in the life of the Parish as best as they could during that period of time.�

Collins explained that St. Mary’s received a grant that allowed the church to purchase the equipment necessary to stream for those unable to attend the services in person.

“There was nothing set up at the Parish to stream masses, but through a grant with the Diocese of Knoxville, we were able to purchase equipment to be able to stream masses throughout the pandemic,� Collins said. “We continue to stream masses with that equipment so people that are shut-ins and are unable to attend in person can at least view what’s taking place here at the Parish.�

Collins said that his church also did things to keep members engaged instead of just completely shutting its doors, such as moving Bible studies, meetings and youth groups online, rather than completely shutting down the services provided within St. Mary’s.

“I think we’ve been striving to engage people during that whole time of the pandemic and just not, per-say, closing our doors entirely and doing nothing for months on end,� Collins said. “Just remain busy, remain faithful to the Gospel and continue to offer the holy mass and the sacraments, and to proclaim truth. That, in return, just draws people to an encounter with Christ.�

Adam Love, pastor of Mafair United Methodist Church in Kingsport, echoed a similar experience with his church. Before the pandemic, Mafair’s services had the option of being recorded and posted later through Facebook. Love said that this dynamic changed for their services, with Mafair moving towards live streaming via Facebook Live–and later, YouTube–after closing their church to the public.

“We did our services live on Sunday mornings,� Love said. “A lot of people would record and post later, but that never felt right to us. We were in the sanctuary on Sunday mornings doing a live stream with just a few people, and we limited it to respect social distancing and wore masks. We were not open for public worship, we were just live streaming from the sanctuary.�

Through the live streaming, Mafair’s services began to reach more people and brought a few new members through the online platform. Love also mentioned how his church partnered with Mac’s Medicine Mart to help expedite Covid vaccines, saying it “was one of the best things (they’ve) done together.�

“The pharmacy offered vaccines, and then we used our church parking lot and volunteers to facilitate people coming through,� Love said. “We had more volunteers from the church than we had positions, and we did five or six of those clinics and vaccinated hundreds and hundreds of people. It was just a blessing.�

Mafair’s congregation, according to Love, also bounced back quite well from the pandemic once it was deemed safe for people to return to in person services. Love said the services at Mafair are currently hybrid, and while he doesn’t want the online option to dissuade people from coming in person, he recognizes the blessing within the choice.

“I have some reservations with it now–I don’t want to enable people not to come to church,� Love said. “But, the blessing is bigger than the reservations because for those who cannot make it, it’s truly a blessing. And it is evangelical in the sense that it might reach some people.�