MARQUETTE — Bishops representing leadership from Michigan’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Episcopal Church issued a joint statement Friday in response to Gov. Whitmer’s recommendations regarding the growing public health crisis around COVID-19.

Episcopal Churches in the Upper Peninsula will be closed for worship and all gatherings and meetings until the end of March.

Online gatherings are encouraged and diocesan staff will assist with setting up this technology. The Episcopal Church and the ELCA have been in a relationship of “full communion” since 2001.