Youth Groups Move to Online Outlets
Since the uprise of COVID-19 has boomed and continues to spread, large gatherings of groups of more than ten people have not been permitted to meet in person since it greatly increases the likelihood of the disease spreading. As Spokane County continues to find new ways to ensure safety and create guidelines in hope for the prevention of an upsurge in COVID cases, Willow Barthelmess from Spokane Community Church, explains the ways in the church continues to follow safety guidelines while slowly reintroducing in-person gatherings.
Willow Barthelmess, a youth group leader for Summit Church in Spokane, is one of the many workers that has been affected by her community of faith shutting down due to COVID-19. Summit has had to go through some major changes when it comes to what capacity is allowed and how youth groups still function and run well. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that communities of faith greatly take into consideration what the best policies are for reopening their organizations that will allow for in-person gatherings. Since March, Summit has been online and is finally reopening its doors for people to attend in person again. Unfortunately, the evening programs and youth groups are still online.
“Youth group is still online, and it is really hard,” said Willow. Students all around the country are having to use Zoom for seven hours every day instead of attending school in person. Once youth group time comes in the evening, it is hard to encourage the students to attend youth group online since they tirelessly use Zoom all day.
“A lot of my girls have stopped coming to Zoom these past few weeks. At the end of the day, the last thing the girls want is another Zoom call,” said Willow. The girls in Willow’s youth group are busy throughout the day and feel as if they are on it enough so only a few show up occasionally. Willow said that because the girls do not come to the youth group as much, it is frustrating and makes it hard for the leaders to connect with the girls. Summit youth groups strive to create community and family, but if no one shows up it is difficult for that to happen.
Zoom is one of many ways that people can stay connected throughout these times. Not meeting in person is hard for the leaders to have deep and meaningful conversations with the kids they lead. “Our girls are really struggling to want to connect so when we meet in person and sit in the grass, that is when we can connect and dive deep into conversation,” Willow said.
On a rare occasion, Willow and her girls do get to meet in person and interact with each other. “We do get to meet in person with our small group if we socially distance and that’s the only time we have had people really show up,” Willow said. Ultimately, the only time Willow is actually connecting with her girls’ is if they are in person, but that is so seldom.
“It’s just really sad! I miss seeing their smiling faces and being able to play games and laugh in person with them. I always looked forward to going to church and hanging out with them. They are my little sisters. It is just not the same, but we can pray and hope that it will get back to normal someday,” Willow said.
The youth groups at Summit have been the last to resort to back to in-person meetings but plan to go back in person. “We are planning on going back in person at the end of October, but no one is quite sure if that is actually going to happen,” Willow said. Even though COVID-19 has brought a lot of pain and doubts about what the future holds for Churches, they have found joy in the uncertainty.
Some of Summit’s other youth group leaders and Willows coworkers had summer plans to do ministry work in states other than Washington. Unfortunately, they had to stay back because of the pandemic. This was a “blessing in disguise,” Willow’s youth partner, Conner said. He said that it has been a blessing because it has allowed him and given him the opportunity to grow closer to the other leaders. Willow said that she, too, has made lifelong friendships that she otherwise would not have had if it weren’t for COVID.
“In terms of summit ministry, I am able to grow closer to the leaders because we have had to have a lot more meetings. I did not know most of the leaders before and it was easy to stay in your clique but now that we have to go through this together it has forced us to all try and get to know each other,” Willow said.
