• Church leaders uncertain on how to handle the faithful who will come to places of worship with their families.
• Restriction of services to one hour will affect some church activities.
Church leaders in Nairobi are in a dilemma on how to implement some of the reopening guidelines issued by the Interfaith Council on the National Response to the coronavirus pandemic.
While they understand the reasons behind the guidelines, they say that turning away the elderly and children will be difficult.
"Most congregants come to church as a family with their children and their elderly family members. For these people, they might not want to come to church if they cannot come with their families," Pastor Robert Gero of Worship Tabernacle in Westlands said.
SDA Kariokor elder Benjamin Omoria is at a loss on how to handle elderly congregants who will choose to come to church.
"Does it mean that we will have to check their IDs to see if they fit the age limit? How can we turn away these members who have been strict church goers? It is a bit confusing for us," he said.
The Rev Canon Sammy Wainaina, the All Saints Cathedral Provost, also anticipates a challenge when dealing with elderly congregants.
"What do I do when an elderly person shows up for service? I cannot be unkind to such a person but handle them with pastoral care and provide them with a safe place away from the risk of infections," Wainaina said.
However, the presiding clerk at Friends' Church Nairobi, Stephen Magwilu believes that most of those affected by the age restriction will be its members in the rural areas.
"Most of our members in the rural churches are retirees who love to go to church. However, they will have to understand that this is a phased reopening and at some point it will be safe to go to church," Magwilu said.
The church leaders are also uncertain how to handle the clergy aged 58 and above.
"Many of our pastors are aged above 58 years and fulfill very important duties like mentoring young people and couples. Somebody like me would usually be looked down on if I were to handle these duties," Omoria said.
Another guideline giving church leaders sleepless nights is how to restrict congregants to 100 people.
"Will I have to stand at the gate to count 100 people and then turn the others away? These are some of the issues we will discuss in our church board meeting on Sunday to see how we can fit our activities with the new directives," Omoria said.
For Wainaina, churches will have to adjust to the new circumstances and adopt technology.
"One thing that I have learnt during this period is adjustment. Part of my plan for the elderly is to tailor the 11am service on KBC to their needs," he said.
Limiting church services to one hour will also impact certain worship activities that are integral to the Christian faith.
"We usually have one hour of prayer alone followed by 30 minutes of praise and worship and another 45 minutes for the sermon. With the time limitation, some of these activities will be affected," Gero said.
Omoria said the church will have to shelve many activities.
"At SDA, most of our worship activities last from morning to evening. Even our services are usually more than an hour. Does this mean that the choir will be singing and then we are done?" he asked.
Their reservations notwithstanding, the church leaders have expressed support for the guidelines and promised to work around them.
While issuing the guidelines on Wednesday, Interfaith Council chair the Rt Rev Anthony Muheria said the council will review the guidelines after three weeks.
Edited by R.Wamochie