The Sanctuary at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation, still up and running

By Julia Homza

Because of the global pandemic, many routine practices have come to a screeching halt. The Lutheran Church of the Reformation of West Long Branch, and many other houses of worship around the world, aren’t letting quarantine stop them.

Online church service takes place every Sunday at 9:30am on Facebook Live, and ratings have been through the roof.

The average church attendance each week before the pandemic was 86 people. According to Pastor Matthew Cimorelli, the average ratings during live service are 105-115 people (including many families watching together at home). That doesn’t account for the many viewers who watch the worship session after the fact, which combined often exceeded 300 viewers.

There is also a Wednesday prayer service at 7pm that has been getting 15-25 views and 7 people participate in Bible study on Uberconference at 7:30pm. Usual in person prayer service has an average attendance of 8 and 6 people go to in-person weekly bible study.

This brings into question the future of in-person religious services, not just with Reformation, but with many different denominations and religious organizations across the country.

With many churches already struggling to keep donations and attendance up, online service may be an easier solution for the future.

Pastor Cimorelli says that relationships are the reason that online worship doesn’t work long term and that “We need interaction. We need touch. We need relationships. We need community. Without these things, we cannot thrive as human beings.”

Susan Homza, council president at Reformation, says that online church is great for the time being but is just not the same as being in person. She added that the church is such a close-knit community and not being there every week is the strangest part of the pandemic for her.

Reformation’s outreach continues, even though the church building is closed.

Pastor Cimorelli stays in touch with his congregation by calling every family, every week to check in on them. Cards and notes of well wishes are being sent to the families.

The Community Clothes Closet (CCC) is collecting summer clothes on Mondays and Thursdays from 9-5, weather permitting. The CCC is planning to distribute clothes to those in need for curbside pickup.

The Food Pantry continues to provide food to families in need, offering driveby pickups for over 1,300 families. Before the pandemic, they were serving approximately 230 families.

More info on the feeding and clothing ministries can be found on their Facebook page – Reformation Community Food Pantry and Community Clothes Closet.

Julia Homza is a student at Communications High School in Wall.