Churches go back to the future with drive-in services in the time of the coronavirus

Pathway Baptist Church holds a worship service at the Calvert Drive-In Theatre, Sunday, March 22, 2020, in Calvert City, Kentucky. Attendees remained in their vehicles. Photo by Nathan Brandon/Studio 270 Media

There was a smattering of honks in place of applause between songs like “Power in the Blood” and “Victory in Jesus” and some prolonged blasts to express appreciation for Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and the owners of the theater. Worship leaders bundled in winter coats stood six feet apart from each other beneath the blue awning, and a deacon in a yellow safety vest led prayers.

“What a sight!” Donald said as he looked out across the cars parked at the theater. The church later counted 134 in aerial photos.

“The church has left the building.”

The Calvert Drive-In Theatre has hosted two weddings and a number of concerts, Donald said.

But it hadn’t hosted a church service until Sunday (March 22), when Pathway Baptist Church — like so many others across the United States — was forced to get creative amid social distancing precautions put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Some drive-in theaters — a fad in the 1950s but more recently seen as novelties — are reporting a swell of popularity during the pandemic as people look for entertainment that gets them out of their houses but also keeps them a safe distance from others.

And Bob Kemp-Baird, pastor of the Daytona Beach Drive-in Christian Church in Daytona Beach, Florida, told Christianity Today he’s been getting questions from churches across the country interested in bringing the past to their present situation.

“Churches are trying to find any way they can to gather people together,” Kemp-Baird told the evangelical Christian magazine.

“They’re really feeling from their congregants, ‘we want to come together to worship, but we recognize the health risks. So what do we do?’”

Congregations from a variety of denominations in Kentucky, Texas, Washington and Minnesota are among those taking the drive-in approach at their churches, encouraging members to park their cars on church property and tune in to the service — broadcast on a low-frequency transmitter — on their radios.

And at least one Roman Catholic priest in Maryland has even set up a drive-thru to hear parishioners' confessions — what some on Twitter have jokingly termed a "dashboard confessional."

Donald admits drive-in church isn’t a new idea.

He grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and remembers churches meeting at drive-ins in the 1970s, he said. He's familiar with drive-in churches like Kemp-Baird’s in Florida or Robert Schuller’s since-closed drive-in church in Southern California that once boasted the tagline, “Come as you are in the family car.”

That gave him the idea to reach out to the Calvert Drive-In Theatre.

Calvert City is a small town, and, he said, “Everybody knows everybody around here.” That includes the owners of the popular theater, where Pathway was already planning a family night for the fall.

Historically, churches never have run away in fear but, rather, have found ways to gather, Donald said.

Like many pastors across the country, he had livestreamed a service the weekend before from a church conference room for congregants to watch safely at home.

But, he said, “There's still something to be said about being in the vicinity, in the presence of another believer, and we experienced that. That's what we experienced that day. Even though there were car windows that separated us, we were gathered as a body of Christ.”

Donald said Pathway hopes to meet at the drive-in again this coming Sunday but will change those plans as needed. The church is paying close attention to guidance from Gov. Beshear, who, Donald said, is doing “a great job.”

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