As COVID stretches on, we - elders, leadership team, staff, and heads of different ministries in consultation with members of this church and other area pastors - have to make decisions about having our entire corporate meeting experience indoors.
Since the state gives more freedom to churches than many realize, I want to stress that this plan reflects our team’s plan for our congregation, a plan arrived at after much prayer and hours of conversation amongst ourselves, other church leaders, and many of you in this congregation, who have been both articulate and passionate is expressing a wide range of perspectives. We hear you. We are weighing a lot of things in the balance.
One of our goals on Sunday Mornings is to provide a corporate service with an environment that feels accessible to as many in our church family as possible, so that as many as possible can have a time of corporate connection. It’s been a long six months; many are feeling the impact of the loss of in-person connection. To the extent that we can create an environment for one corporate hour that feels safe and accessible for those longing to be with other but are concerned about their or their family’s safety, we seek to do so.
As with so many things in the past six months, our plans will certainly ‘pivot’ at some point. This plan is written in sand, not stone. We fully understand the frustrations associated with COVID-19: we are all feeling it deeply. The ‘groaning” of a fallen world in unmistakable ways.
May our corporate gathering be an oasis of peace and hope for as many as possible, and may the “grace and peace” that the New Testament writers mention so often reign in our hearts and in our church.
WEDNESDAY EVENING/SMALL GROUP
October 7 is the day we have scheduled for the start of Wednesday night stuff (AWANA, youth group). Small groups will start up that week as well. The building will be open from 6:15 to 8:00. If you have children in AWANA, we expect at least one parent or caregiver to be in the building during AWANA time. For both youth group and AWANA, we will be watching how TC Christian handles the expectations about social distancing and masks for school age kids. Meanwhile, we plan to have individual room air purifiers for the youth room and for the rooms where small groups meet in the building on Wednesday nights.
Contact Dan Slater (dslater30@gmail.com) or Emily Slater (Emi.slater@gmail.com) for more info about youth group.
Contact Karl Meszaros (KMeszaros@borideabrasives.com) for more info about AWANA.
Contact Kim Meszaros (kimberlymeszaros@gmail.com) if you will need nursery on a Wednesday evening.
Contact William Kreuger (returnedprodigal@gmail.com) if you are not already plugged into a small group and would like to be.
SUNDAY MORNING
On this coming Sunday, October 4th, we move fully indoors.
· We are planning to continue our one hour service as we have been doing, with no second hour classes at this point.
· Kids will go straight to Children’s Church in the Fellowship Hall with Karl when families arrive. Once again, we will be watching how TC Christian handles the expectations about social distancing and masks for school age kids.
· If you need nursery, let us know. We have a hard time gauging who needs this to happen in order for them to be able to attend and experience church meaningfully. If you need nursery, contact Kim Meszaros. (kimberlymeszaros@gmail.com)
· We are still strongly encouraging the use of masks when moving around and not being able to maintain ‘social distancing’, like you can when seated during the service. We really want to have a one hour block of time that is as accessible as possible to the broadest group of people. Especially before the service, when a lot of people are moving through shared spaces like the lobby, please be conscientious about this.
· We will be singing at the end of the service instead of the beginning. NOTE: This means that, at 10:00, we start with announcements, then the message, then singing.
· As singing is the activity that - of anything we do on a Sunday morning - raises concerns about the spread of aerosols that can hang in the air and build up the ‘viral load’, singing will at this point be shorter, lasting for 10-12 minutes. Masks will be required for those who sing. So if you remain in the gymnatorium for the music, our expectation is that you either sing with a mask or worship quietly. (There will be extra masks available for those who want or need them).
· The lobby will have the music piped in, and you will be able to see the stage on the TV. The lobby will be a quiet worship space like what has been happening in the gym for the past six months. If you would rather not be in the gymnatorium during the singing, we will be providing some “bumper music” so you can move to the lobby for that time period.
Knowing there is a deep longing in many of you for a time of singing in which the mask is not a frustrating distraction, we are in the process of figuring out what it looks like to offer a time immediately after the service for those comfortable singing in a mask optional environment. We have some creative and determined minds at work :)
“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, glory, majesty, dominion, and power, before all time, and now, and to all the ages. Amen.” (Jude 1:24-25)