The Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta is keeping worship services online.
Bishop Robert Wright announced in a letter Wednesday that services at the 117 worshiping locations of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta will remain virtual until health experts say that in-person services and meetings are “reasonably safe”
Diocesan meetings and services have been online since early March.
The decision comes as Gov. Brian Kemp begins a reopening of Georgia businesses, as long as they meet specified guidelines.
Kemp never banned in-person services for Georgia places of worship, although he has suggested churches hold online or drive-in services.
Earlier this week, Kemp confirmed that churches, synagogues and mosques and other houses of faith can hold in-person services as long as they followed safety guidelines that include social distancing.
In the letter , which followed an online consultation with clergy, Wright said asked that clergy “bring imagination to how we care for one another, new power to our proclamation of God’s good news and new effectiveness to how to support those who are oppressed by fear and lack.”
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Wright, whose diocese includes schools, churches and ministries in 75 counties in Middle and North Georgia, said online broadcasts and recordings of services can resume from inside parish churches.
Church meetings will continue to be conducted online, Wright said. On April 2, Wright had directed that all online services had to originate from clergy residences to reduce the possibility of spreading the virus.
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