Belle Vernon church offers drive-thru prayer
A Belle Vernon church is offering drive-thru prayer in an effort to serve people during the coronavirus pandemic.
Gospel Alliance Church, located at 1011 Fells Church Road, is inviting church and community members to pull into the church during designated hours and drive around to a prayer station. Nothing will be handed out, and social distancing will be observed.
“For those who have come it’s very meaningful,” said the Rev. Alan Petke, associate pastor.
Petke explained, ‘”A car – it could be a family or an individual – will drive into a portico and a two-person prayer team will maintain a social distance and ask, ‘What would you like Jesus to do for you? How can we pray for you?’ They stay in the car and we stay where we’re at and pray.”
The church, led by the Rev. Robert Riconda, started drive-thru prayer March 22. Hours are 10 a.m. to noon on Sundays. The prayer station will also be open Wednesdays and Fridays, but Petke said to check the church’s Facebook page for hours.
“Our goal is to do something meaningful for our community,” said Petke. “If they’re feeling lonely, disconnected or overwhelmed, we want to offer a safe place for them to be prayed for.”
Gospel Alliance announced youths, adult groups and families are meeting via video calls and Riconda is posting videos. The church also sends out weekly and daily updates via email and Remind101 texting service.
More information can be found on Gospel Alliance Church Facebook page or gospelalliancechurch.org or by calling 724-823-0453.
This method is one way area churches are ministering to communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, including livestreaming worship services.
The Rev. Andy Miles, pastor of First Christian Church in New Salem, said the church is reaching out in several ways, including online worship at 10:45 a.m. Sundays and sending Sunday school packets home for children to continue their studies.
“We’re also doing online Bible studies in different formats. We use Zoom to allow everybody to see you and you to see everybody else and regular online Bible studies as well. Just click a button on our website,” said Miles, noting more information is available at www.fccnewsalem.com.
“We’re encouraging people to check on people near them,” said Miles. “And we’re asking the whole church to pray every evening at 7 for our communities, for healing, for God to get us through this and to provide opportunities to serve.”