Dear Church Family,

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As we begin to think about easing the lockdown restrictions and moving to more social interaction, I want to provide you with the plan on how our church will be slowly phasing into reopening.  As exciting as it is to think about coming back together in worship and fellowship, we still need to take wise and healthy measures of precaution to ensure the safety of all of our guests and members.

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How Will It Work?

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PHASE ONE:

• We will offer 2 Sunday morning worship services with 100 attendees per service which enables us to still maintain social distancing of 6 feet.  The services will be 1 hour long, with the first service beginning at 9:00 a.m., and the second service beginning at 11:00 a.m.

•  This will provide a buffer time of 1 hour between the services to allow those in attendance to exit the church without crowds overlapping, and the church to be properly maintained before the second service attendees arrive.

• There will be no Sunday School, no childcare, no Children’s Church, no youth activities, no choir, and no Sunday evening service. 

• We will offer a 1 hour Wednesday evening service at 7:00 p.m., but not to exceed 100 attendees.

• We ask that you go online to our church website and register for the service(s) you plan to attend in person.  This method will enable us to avoid having too many people in attendance so that we can maintain social distancing (6 feet), and ensure visitors still have a place as well.

• We will continue to provide online live streaming of our 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning service, and our Wednesday evening service to those unable to attend in person.

 

PHASE TWO:

• All of phase one is still implemented, with the following additions. *     

• Small group gatherings (Sunday School, youth, etc.) may be scheduled with an hour buffer in between meetings to maintain adequate social distancing during entering and exiting.  

• Larger group gatherings (20 or more) will schedule and utilize the sanctuary in order to maintain social distancing, and smaller group gatherings (20 or less) may schedule and utilize the sanctuary or the fellowship hall.   

• These gatherings may be scheduled on Saturday or Sunday afternoons or evenings.

• No childcare will be provided during the group gatherings. 

 

PHASE THREE:

• All church activities return to the pre-COVID-19 outbreak schedule. *         

• We will continue to provide online live streaming of our services.

• What You Can Expect

• To maintain adequate social distancing (6 feet), our ushers will be seating individuals and family units utilizing every other row.

• You will have to register each week for the service(s) you plan to attend in person.

• If you are unable to go online and register for the service(s) you plan to attend, please call the church office and we will take care of scheduling you.

•  If you would like to sit with other family and/or friends who may be registering separately, please note that on the comments section of the registration form online, and we will do our best to accommodate you.

•  Restrooms will only be occupied at half capacity (only 2 at a time) in order to allow for social distancing (6 feet). We will not have a fellowship time with handshakes and hugs during our worship services.

• We will not pass collection plates, but we will have our ushers placed at giving stations at the conclusion of the service for you to drop your offerings off as you exit your worship center.  

• At the conclusion of the service, we will dismiss one row at a time.

What We’re Going To Do To Create A Safe Environment

• Our Welcoming Team will hold open the doors for you to minimize your need for touching door handles.

• All who enter the building will be required to have their temperature checked with a touchless thermometer to ensure there is no fever.

• Face coverings or masks are not mandatory, but will be available for you if you desire to have one.

• We will be installing touchless, motion-detection faucets in the restrooms.

•  We will turn off the water fountains, and provide bottled water for those in need of water.

• We are installing air ionizer filters on our air conditioning system to help disinfect and remove particles from the air.

• We will be using CDC approved cleaning and disinfectant sprays to clean and sanitize the building before and after worship services.

• Due to the limited number of service attendees, and the inability to maintain social distancing (6 feet), the parking lot shuttle service will be discontinued until we are able to reach phase three.

What Can You Do To Help?

• Stay home when you are sick, running a fever of over 100.4, or have any flu-like symptoms.  For the safety of everyone, if a fever is detected by the touchless thermometer, you will be asked to watch the service online from your home.

• Stay home if you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

• If your job requires you to travel internationally or to domestic areas where “hot-spots” are still actively growing with COVID-19, please stay home and enjoy our services through live streaming.

• Do not begin arriving for the second worship service on Sunday morning until at least 10:30 to allow the first service attendees adequate time to exit the building and parking lot, and to allow time to clean and sanitize the building.

• Work with our Welcoming Team members to help seat you properly.

• We will need additional ushers for each service.  Please contact Mike Pullen if you are willing to help. 

• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.

• Wash your hands often with soap and water, or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

• Pray!  We need God’s wisdom as we move into and through this plan, and His discernment to reveal necessary details to help keep us safe and healthy.

 

The Governor has recommended that “everyone 65 years and older, people with disabilities, people with serious respiratory or cardiovascular conditions” and those with compromised immune systems “should not gather in person until a later time.”  If you fall into any of those categories, it is understandable if you choose not to attend in person at this time.  At the end of the day, you must make the decision that you feel is in the best interest of protecting yourself and your family.
 
Churches are not geared for social distancing, and that is why this is so difficult for all of us.  I want to get back together as a church family as quickly as possible, but I also want to make sure that we have done everything in our power to make it safe for people to gather.  We will continue to monitor the opening of statewide social interaction to ensure there are no adverse effects before we announce our date for reopening.  We will give you at least a two week notice before we reopen and put this plan into action.

God has shown and proven Himself to be faithful to our church family during this very unique time in history.  We have learned some incredibly valuable lessons through this journey.  One of them is to never take for granted the wonder of God’s presence in our worship together, and to appreciate the strength of unity God has given to our church family.  I love each of you dearly, and can’t wait to worship with you again!
 

Your Most Proud Pastor,