ST. PETERSBURG — As communities turn to places of worship for both spiritual counsel and practical guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s integral, now more than ever, for churches and other faith organizations to feel equipped to lead through the crisis.

To provide an applicable roadmap on how to deal with the crisis, faith leaders supported by the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg and the Florida Department of Health, Pinellas County, prepared a series of online seminars to help prepare pastors and spiritual leaders to best serve during this tumultuous season.

Rev. Rebecca Burrow, CEO of Building Reconciliation Inclusion Diversity and Gender Equity, LLC, St. John Primitive Baptist Church and Andrea Peaten, community immunizations liaison at the Florida Department of Health Pinellas, shared their perspective and guidelines for reopening places of faith, strategies for mitigating Coronavirus within congregations and resources for developing a disaster preparedness plan.

Speaking to community faith leaders in a webinar, Burrow asked them to consider the average age of their congregations and their race and percentage of members with existing health conditions as a guiding factor in reopening.

“Because we know that people of color have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, it’s important that you keep these things in mind when you are considering reopening the doors to the church,” Burrow said.