Drive-in service brings Julian congregation together for Easter while social distancing

Dozens of vehicles filled the Brookside Wesleyan Church parking lot Sunday morning as parishioners attended a very different kind of Easter service amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Pastor Mike Fisher said the church’s first ever drive-in service, featuring a sound system and broadcast on an FM radio frequency provided to parishioners, “inspired my heart.”

For the past few weeks, the church has been posting its services on Facebook, where Fisher has also posted daily devotionals from his tree stand. But members were able to worship together for the first time since COVID-19 precautions were put in place, all while abiding by social distancing requirements and not leaving their vehicles.

“I think it’s a time where God is just giving us all a message, a reminder of what’s important. He’s most important. And families are vitally important,” Fisher said.

Other Centre County churches also found unique ways to celebrate Easter Sunday, with Gov. Tom Wolf recently encouraging alternate forms of religious gatherings that do not physically bring people together.

Watermarke Church also held a drive-in service, where more than 100 vehicles filled the Drayer Physical Therapy parking lot in Bellefonte for the service.

Churches including St. John Lutheran Church, Grace Lutheran Church and St. Paul’s United Methodist Church held services via Facebook live and St. Paul Lutheran Church’s Easter service was held by Zoom.

Other churches rang their bells at noon Sunday to honor health care workers, public health officials, first responders and others battling the pandemic — an effort started by Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in State College.

This story was originally published April 12, 2020 at 2:33 PM.