After nearly 2 months, churchgoers are welcomed back to in-person services

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - For the first time in roughly two months, Oahu’s faithful returned for in-person Sunday church services on Sunday.

But there were changes and safeguards in place.

At First Assembly of God in Red Hill, church leaders spent the past few weeks preparing.

Prior to the pandemic they allowed up to 1,100 worshipers. But under the new seating guidelines, they’ll only be able to fit 300 people.

Signs marked which chairs people were allowed to sit in to abide by social distancing. And everyone who entered was screened for symptoms.

Pastor Klayton Ko says a total of 300 people showed up at two services Sunday.

“We were waiting for this, we were wondering what was taking so long with the low amount of cases in Hawaii,” Ko said. “Online services are great, they really helped us during the shutdown. But the online social media can never replace the fellowship you feel in being together.”

Ko says people are still practicing their faith online.

First Assembly of God is also working on plans to open its children’s ministry by June 7. And the church plans to use some of the child care procedures being proposed by the state.

“We’re going to limit our classroom sizes to 10 students. We’re going to make sure that there are new procedures for cleanliness and social distancing,” Children’s Pastor Trenton Oshiro said. “We’re not having large group worship sessions anymore. We’re going to have individual classroom sessions in each of our classrooms.”

Meanwhile on neighbor islands, Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim announced that in-church services could begin on June 1.

Maui’s Mayor Michael Victorino said places of worship may begin in-person services this Friday. And on Kauai, they started in-person services this past Friday.

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