By Lillian Donahue|March 22, 2020 at 3:33 PM EDT - Updated March 22 at 4:20 PM
SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - With the Center for Disease Control and area leaders asking the public to practice safe social distance from others, churches are offering drive-in services to keep spirits high.
“I just could not say we were canceling service,” Terrence Jones, Pastor of Baum Temple AME Zion Church said. “We can’t come in, but we can drive-in.”
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Jones said he got the idea from an old fried who owned a drive-in movie theater.
“As I was preparing to talk with our ministry staff about how we would do service, the Lord has put in my heart that, why don’t you do a driving service for people driving and I would deliver the word from the porch step of our church,” Jones said.
Around two dozen cars parked outside, often honking to say “amen.”
“I feel like as long as you get the word, it doesn’t matter where it comes from,” Attendee Margarett James said. “This is another way of getting the word without a lot of people worried about this coronavirus.”
At Baum Temple AME, Jones said people could roll down their windows and get out, as long as they stayed more than six feet apart.
“I wanted to make sure people got out, that we kept our distance,” Jones said. “But we were also able to praise the Lord.”
Other churches also had the same idea. Maple Cane Baptist Church posted about their drive-in service on social media.
For now, Jones said he will hold the drive-ins throughout coronavirus concerns and as long as they stay safe.
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