COVID-19

Two pastors in Ontario and one in Wisconsin talk about the experience of reopening their churches for in-person worship after widespread closures to keep people socially distanced during COVID-19.

Immanuel CRC members Mike Earls and Gerry Gysbers in Hamilton, Ont., often take their band Deservedly So into local nursing homes to perform for residents. During COVID-19, they’ve kept the sing-along going with an online concert.

For two weeks out of every winter, Ann Arbor (Mich.) CRC hosts additional shelter space for the Shelter Association of Washtenaw. This year, their second week of hosting turned into 12 weeks, benefitting the church and the men.

Restrictions on the use of the Christian Reformed Church’s office buildings in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Burlington, Ont., have been updated and continue to be in place.

From replacing school nutrition programs to large-scale food pantry distribution, three Christian Reformed churches in three cities are using community partnerships to help fill gaps.

I’ve just finished riding all the roller coasters at Canada’s Wonderland. All seventeen.

Even a few months ago, predicting the rise of drive-in churches was laughable.

Bethel Christian Reformed Church, on Navajo land in New Mexico, has increased its food bank service four-fold and also coordinated a bulk food distribution, thanks in part from a grant from World Renew.

Work has moved online for most who are still working. Social distancing and the “stay-at-home” order isolates us, making us feel out of touch and socially disconnected.

I am a risk, not a certainty. If the coronavirus comes for me, the doctors could use their point system to give a ventilator to someone else instead.

Holland Christian Homes’ Grace Manor in Brampton was one of five long-term care homes in the province of Ontario cited in a harsh report about conditions in the facilities. Having addressed the relatively minor citations at Grace Manor, the facility is not subject to the Ontario government appointment of temporary management as at the other four homes.

While remaining at home, residents of the Raybrook campus of Holland Home in Grand Rapids, Mich., joined together in a lawn-and-balcony, socially distanced worship service May 21.

From participating in the Lord’s Supper every week, to making the sharing of the sacrament less frequent, to holding off on the practice altogether until in-person fellowship resumes, a few British Columbia churches told The Banner of their pandemic-related adjustments in worship.

John Witvliet, director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, and others comment on studies showing a possible link to a higher rate of coronavirus spread when singing in groups.

Abraham Kuiper warned that “if social developments continue to follow the present course, life on earth will become less and less a heaven and more and more a hell.”

When contagion emptied the cathedral, people painted Mary and Jesus huddled in alcoves and on the walls of streets hardly more than alleys. Prayer continued there.

Community initiatives from Christian Reformed churches across Canada are getting a $40,000 boost thanks to local ministry grants from World Renew and Diaconal Ministries Canada.

Insurance companies are primed to play an increasingly influential role for houses of worship as legislators ease social distancing restrictions and faith groups prepare to reopen their doors. Religion News Service spoke with two insurers.

Wilma Van Schelven, a member of Maranatha Christian Reformed Church in Belleville, Ont., said her congregation’s city-wide food drive began with the Holy Spirit’s prompting.

As I Was Saying is a forum for a variety of perspectives to foster faith-related conversations among our readers with...

Speaking at the CRC's Council of Delegates May meeting, Classis Red Mesa delegate Stanley Jim shared difficult stories of the effect of COVID-19 among Navajo people in New Mexico and Arizona.

My husband and I moved to the U.S. 16 years ago.

Here’s how Trinity Christian College; the Institute for Christian Studies; and Dordt, Calvin, The King’s, and Redeemer universities are marking commencement 2020.