Church is one thing, among many others, that has been majorly impacted by the Corona Virus. Church groups have had to suspend various worship services and events to ensure that all their members stay safe.
Buster Clemens is a youth minister at Highland Church of Christ in Cordova. “COVID really affected our church,” says Clemens. The 5th of March was Highland Church of Christ’s last day to meet together for normal church service. They did not resume worship services in person until October.
“Highland went from having about a thousand people in worship on Sunday mornings to nothing. We started producing a video for each Sunday that members could watch virtually at home,” says Clemens.
As far as the youth group was concerned, they had to cancel all the retreats, mission trips and summer camps. Highland’s youth gatherings are always enjoyed by dozens of students. The gatherings stopped all together for a good bit of time. This all happened right before summer. “Summer is probably the biggest and most active season for the youth. Having all summer events like camp cancelled was devastating for the students, and it was a lot of pressure on us, as youth ministers to make the right decisions while also trying to make up for the loss,” Clemens says. Since then, gatherings have started back up. They started off having to be limited in the number of kids allowed to attend due to CDC guidelines. Masks, social distancing, and being outside is way different than what Highland’s Youth Group is used to. Buster says, “It was a huge challenge and we are still overcoming that challenge today.” They are handling it in the best way they know how with the hopes of one day returning back to normal.
