Rockingham County church hosts drive-in Easter Sunday service

In-person church services have been cancelled because of COVID-19, but one church in Rockingham County took a different approach that allowed people to gather this Easter Sunday.

When Crosslink Community Church leaders first heard about the closures, Pastor Matthew Kirkland said they began brainstorming ways to engage with the members of their church.

"Several weeks ago, we began to think through opportunities," Kirkland said. "We knew that people would want to gather for Easter, but more importantly, we believed that many in the community are looking for hope."

Crosslink Community Church found its solution... A drive-in style church service where people could celebrate safely from inside their car.

"At first I thought, well that's very different, it's definitely creative, let's pray about it, and we did," Kirkland said. "We reached out to the fairgrounds, we reached out to the sheriff's department, and one by one things began to line up and we began to realize God is in this."

The service was hosted at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds, and fields quickly began to fill will cars and families.

"It's a lot of fun speaking to a bunch of cars I will say," Kirkland said. "When everyone honked at the same time, it got really exciting and a little distracting, but it was awesome."

While Kirkland said he would've preferred to hold services inside their church like normal, he hoped the makeshift service was able to put a smile on people's faces.

"But more so, I think it puts a smile on the face of God when we believe the message that Jesus rose again from the grave and that is timeless, far beyond the days and limit of this pandemic," Kirkland said.

And he said being able to bring the community together safely was incredible to see.

"Because people are looking for hope, there was a genuine excitement here today," Kirkland said. "To be here to celebrate that fact that Easter might be "cancelled," but the resurrection of Christ can't be, and so people came to celebrate that today."