USA: Sunday worshippers at Westgate Assembly in Salem, Oregon, this summer have been honking their horns and flashing their lights in lieu of clapping. Westgate added an 8:30 a.m. drive-in service in addition to its 10:30 a.m. indoor worship service.

As cars enter the parking lot, attendants direct occupants to a drive- through for free coffee and doughnuts. Churchgoers receive a packet with song lyrics, sermon materials, a portable Communion container and, if needed, a kids’ Bible story and activity with crayons.

The vehicles then park facing a stage according to size: trucks in the back, vans in the middle and cars in the front. Radios are tuned to 100.7 FM. The church owns a radio transmitter that broadcasts the service into the parking lot. The service consists of three worship songs, special music, guest interviews or testimonies and a sermon by Pastor Bob Swope.

The service has drawn a variety of people including chemotherapy and radiation patients who shouldn’t be exposed to others, elderly people unable to walk and those normally uncomfortable in a church. “Half of the people aren’t church people at all, but they want to check out what God’s all about,” Swope says. He hopes such newcomers will give the regular service a tryout after staying in their vehicles for several weeks.

Some local residents have criticized the stay-in-your-car service for fostering isolation, but Swope sees it as an out-reach. “We are trying to make it as a bridge where people can be introduced to Jesus,” he says.

The drive-in church also resolves a common noise complaint some people make. “They can’t say it’s too loud or too soft, because they control the volume in their car,” Swope says.

(Source: Pentecostal Evangel)