Pastor Keith and the deacons met to formulate our plan to begin holding worship services at church again. Our first service since the Covid-19 quarantine will tentatively be Sunday, May 24, at 10:00 a.m. We will only hold Morning Worship Services for the time being – there will not be any Sunday School classes or Evening Worship Services until a later date. There will not be any Wednesday Evening Prayer Meeting or Youth Activities either. We will be confining ourselves to the Sanctuary to start with and the basement level will be closed. This is to help us limit exposure to surfaces in the church and make sure the Sanctuary is sanitized before the next service is held.
We are taking every reasonable measure to ensure the health and safety of all our members including providing masks and gloves, for those who would like to wear them, and hand sanitizer at every entrance and observing social distancing while worshipping. Some pews will be roped off and every household is asked to be seated together and stay at least 6 feet away from others – please do not approach others. There will be no child care offered during this next phase so children will need to remain with their parents. The hymnals and pew bibles will be removed from the pew racks and songs will be projected on the screen during the service. Offering baskets will be placed in such a way that you may worship through tithes and offerings without coming near others, or you may simply place your offering in an envelope and leave it on the pew to be collected after the service.
We want to emphasize that your attendance is strictly voluntary. We realize that everyone’s situation is unique and every member must evaluate their own tolerance to the risk of exposure for themselves and their families. No judgment will be made on those who are uncomfortable coming together at this time. In fact, those who are at a greater risk from potential infection are asked to continue to isolate themselves and enjoy our Worship Services online at Facebook Live for their own wellbeing. Those who are coughing, who are sick or who have a fever are asked to remain home also for the welfare of other church members.
We look forward to the time when we are able to resume our normal Worship Services and activities, and we remain prayerful that these precautions will make that happen all the sooner. We will continue to monitor the situation and if any changes need to be made to these plans we will communicate them to you by phone call or on the church website.
Your brother in Christ,
Richard Booher