GREAT FALLS — In response to Governor Steve Bullock’s mask mandate several days ago, Alexander Temple Church of God in Christ in Great Falls says it will continue their efforts to keep their congregation safe.
Pastor Marcus Collins said prior to the governor’s announcement, the church already required attendees to wear masks.
“The week before [the mandate] we started asking our parishioners and people visiting to wear a mask and if those people came that didn’t have masks we’d issue them a mask,” Collins said.
Collins said the church staff adjusted the service layout to cut down on the amount of time the preacher and singers were without masks: “We’ve kind of restructured services so there’s less activity as far as mic usage and vocal usage..those people that may be like singers or things like that of course they won’t sing with a mask on."
Masks will be provided to churchgoers to ensure they can worship safely. “We are issuing masks to people that want to come and worship the Lord. We want to make sure that yes people have that safe experience but we want to make sure that we are in tandem with our state and local officials and that people have a safe and healthy environment to worship the Lord in,” Collins said.
Alexander Temple Church of God has also implemented other sanitary measures like sectioned seating. “The church seating arrangements have been restructured so that they adhere to social distancing guidelines and 6 feet apart. Even the pews have been realigned so that the pews are in standard with social distancing,” Collins said.
Alexander Temple Church of God In Christ is located at 3726 Fifth Avenue North.
Governor Steve Bullock announced on Wednesday a statewide directive requiring face coverings/masks in Montana. The directive is effective immediately in counties that have four or more active cases of COVID-19. The directive requires that masks be used in most indoor settings and where social distancing cannot be maintained. Bullock said businesses will have the right to deny entry of anyone not wearing a mask. Click here for details on the directive.
