While we are thankful for how technology has allowed us to stay connected, I’m now itching for some face-to-face interaction. We’ve been talking here about how to transition back to gathered worship as our state government reduces the risk level. 

As the elders has discussed our options for gathering, we’ve felt pulled in many directions: caring for those who are isolated; showing compassion for those in our congregation who are high risk; encouraging those in our church who are suffering from the effects of all the closures; recognizing the yearning for many in our congregation see each other; welcoming the new believers in our congregation who want to get baptized and take communion; honoring our civil authorities who have a God-given authority to protect and preserve life; and, most importantly, honoring God and his command to “not neglect” gathering together for worship. Please continue to pray for us as we wrestle with how best to care for our church. 

At this point we’ve made the following decisions: 

• We are encouraging smaller groups to gather together in homes to worship and watch the service at 9:15 or 11. If you’re willing to host a couple of people but don’t know whom to invite, please contact the church as soon as possible.

• For those who have been joining us in person or are unable to go to another person’s home, you are welcome to come to the church to worship at 9:15.

• Groups of fewer than twenty people may resume meeting in person at the group leader’s discretion.

• In all of these, please follow the latest social distancing guidelines from the state.

We are also looking at how many we can safely seat in our church building and have come up with several ways to divide the congregation into smaller groups and rotate in for worship at the building. Thankfully, we can easily start up our second service again, which gives us more options for inviting people into the building. We will communicate with you as we develop these plans. And as always, everything is subject to change depending on the situation.

We miss you and look forward to when we can all gather again for worship.

In Christ,

Pastor Jon