In mid-March 2020, Lititz-area churches faced a decision few of their members had ever imagined. As COVID-19 spread and Pennsylvania officials urged residents to avoid large gatherings, many congregations closed their doors, canceled services and told the faithful to worship from home.
The decisions came quickly. Within days, church calendars filled with cancellations, and pastors who had never streamed a service were learning to do so.
Lititz Moravian
Lititz Moravian Church, the congregation at the heart of the town’s founding, canceled all functions through at least the end of March 2020. In a letter to the congregation posted on the church website, Pastor Dean Jurgen acknowledged the weight of the decision.
“We acknowledge that this is a drastic step, but it is the kind of step that is needed for the eradication of this virus,” he wrote. He described it as a Lenten sacrifice, “a choice that is tough to do, yet a blessing to all.”
In place of in-person worship, the church pointed members to a service offered through a Moravian organization that could be watched at home. Jurgen encouraged individuals and families to spend time together in study, worship and prayer, to call people they were missing, and to support neighbors facing extra hardship.
Grace Church goes online
Grace Church in Lititz announced it would hold only online services, broadcast live at 9 a.m. on the following Sundays. To accommodate people who could not watch in real time, the church posted archived videos immediately afterward.
The move responded to Gov. Tom Wolf’s request to suspend activities involving more than 250 people. Within days, guidance tightened further, and many smaller congregations followed with their own closures.
A changing list
The situation moved so fast that the original LititzDailyNews.com list of closures needed constant updating. Some churches that were still open when the first report was published soon suspended worship or Mass. Others shifted to small gatherings, drive-in services or parking-lot prayer before moving fully online.
Catholic parishes followed guidance from the Diocese of Harrisburg, which suspended public Masses in March 2020. Protestant congregations, which generally make their own decisions, varied in timing but largely arrived at the same place.
Faith at a distance
For congregations rooted in gathering, the shift was difficult. Many members were older and less comfortable with technology. Churches set up phone trees, mailed newsletters and printed bulletins, and recruited younger members to help livestream.
At the same time, many churches found new ways to serve. Food pantries continued, often with drive-through distribution. Volunteers delivered groceries to homebound members. Pastors made phone calls and held video prayer meetings.
Easter 2020, which fell on April 12, was celebrated by most local congregations online, a first in living memory for the community.
Reopening and lasting changes
Over the following months, Pennsylvania’s phased reopening allowed congregations to return with distancing, masks and limited capacity, and each church set its own pace. By the time in-person worship returned more widely, many had added permanent online options.
Livestreams and recorded services, born of necessity in March 2020, have remained common in Lititz-area churches, reaching members who are traveling, ill or homebound.
Looking back
The spring 2020 closures were one of the clearest signs of how deeply the pandemic disrupted community life. For a town founded as a church community, closing the doors of Lititz Moravian and its neighbors was a striking moment, and the way congregations adapted remains part of the town’s story of those months.
Congregations that once measured attendance by who filled the pews learned to count viewers, phone calls and porch deliveries instead. The ministry continued, even when the buildings stood empty.