Peninsula Church of the Nazarene has been holding services online.

PENINSULA — As awareness and concern about the scope of covid-19 spread, Peninsula churches had painful decisions to make, and a short time to consider them. Most or all closed down or moved to online. Closing churches to in-person worship has now been mandated by the state as part of Gov. Jay Inslee’s order this week.

But in deciding about service before the official closure, painful discussions took place.

Many congregations consist disproportionately of older Americans — those most vulnerable by far to dying of the virus, but also a group that can be vulnerable to loneliness.

Peninsula Baptist Church in Ocean Park, perhaps the largest on the peninsula, made the decision to stay open on March 15. But it saw its congregation dwindle by almost half, from the usual 200. This is despite the fact that some congregants at churches that were already closing visited Peninsula Baptist, Pastor Chris Garrison said.

The church dispensed with the customary morning greeting and put out extra hand sanitizer. That Saturday, March 14, Garrison had announced on a Facebook video that the church was staying open but stressed that people should feel no pressure to come.

“Follow your conscience,” he said, asking people to take into consideration their health condition, age and the condition of others in their homes.

The National Basketball Association’s chaotic decision to indefinitely postpone its season had just happened. The statewide school closure announcement was that Friday. People were trying to figure out how much danger there was, and how much to disrupt their lives.

Churches were having to make similar decisions on the fly. It’s no wonder that some, like PBC, were at that point asking their members to do what seemed right to them. As assistant administrator Sallie Daggy explained, they were trying to figure out just how bad things were threatening to become.

Ocean Beach Presbyterian Church found itself similarly scrambling to decide what to do. On their Facebook page, their leadership let the congregation in on their thinking.

“The leadership board of the Ocean Beach Presbyterian Church had a day-long discussion by email yesterday, and last night we concluded that our small congregation has a large enough worship space to make a gathering on Sunday an acceptable risk. We were going to proceed,” they wrote.

“But we’ve kept listening, both to public health officials, and to our own second-thoughts. … Of paramount importance, in the struggle with the coronavirus pandemic, is the struggle to get the whole public to take it seriously.”

Painful as it was, they decided the church would close to do its part and set an example in the fight against covid-19.

“As ‘common good’ kinds of folks, Presbyterians try to think of our neighbors first… Loving God and loving our neighbors are the two great commandments… and they are not in conflict.”

By mid-March, Peninsula Baptist was strongly considering going the same route and canceling in-person church services for the immediate future.

“It’s a fluid situation,” Daggy said at the time. “We don’t yet have an official decision.” Pastor Garrison was out of town, making it more difficult to get a decision finalized. Once he returned, the decision came quickly.

PBC is holding live-streamed services on Facebook and Youtube. Most of the congregation has internet access; for those who don’t, the church is providing a recording.

Garrison said the church is a strong community, and that many congregants remain in contact with each other. But he worries about those who are more loosely connected to the church falling off during this time.

For other local churches, the decision was made for them further up in the hierarchy. St. Mary’s, the Catholic church in Seaview, is under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Seattle, which on March 11 ordered services shut down throughout western Washington. The Latter Day Saints church in Long Beach closed when the Mormon church called off all gatherings worldwide.

In sermons and on social media, a message of many churches has been: Do not fear. “Jesus heals what toilet paper can’t,” the New Life Church reader board tells drivers on Highway 101 in Ilwaco. “Fear God and have nothing else to fear,” the Peninsula Church of the Nazarene reader board urged.