Have you heard the news? This weekend we’re celebrating a new season with Welcome Back Sunday! 

OK we admit, it’s mostly just a regular Sunday with a fancy name. But after a very unusual summer (for a number of reasons!) we’re inviting everyone back to worship with us, with two new features:

First, starting this Sunday we will be offering two services, one at 9:15 am and the other at the usual time of 10:30 am. The services will be slightly shorter and in a little different order, but otherwise the worship services will be the same as always. There will be one notable change when you walk into the sanctuary: we will be social distancing the chairs, so that each family will be sitting six feet away from the next. With the chairs set up this way, we can fit roughly sixty people in our sanctuary…

…which leads to the second change: due to limited space, we are asking every family to please register for the service beforehand. This is simple and can be done either by filling out and submitting the signup form embedded in this newsletter or by visiting our website homepage. When registering, you will be asked which service you would like to attend, and how many plan on attending from your family. It’s as easy as that!

Along with these changes, the General Board has decided to continue to do a few other things for your safety. When you enter the building, a greeter will meet you at the main entrance and open the door for you. The offering plate will not be passed during the service and will instead be stationed at the rear of the sanctuary. The building will be disinfected between and after services. Face masks will be encouraged but not required. And if you would like to fellowship with others after the service, we are asking you to do so in the church yard (at least while it’s nice enough to gather outdoors!).

When we sent out the Christian Education survey to our entire church body a few weeks ago, one thing that was clear was the difference in comfort level in gathering again. The answers, as expected, were all over the spectrum. So we wanted to do whatever we could to make the most people comfortable in returning. 

We know registering for a church service is an inconvenience. But we also know that by making these few changes, we can ensure that the highest possible percentage of our church family is comfortable returning and worshiping with us live. And we think that’s worth it!

Please note that this solution is temporary. Typically we would be able to offer the fellowship hall as an alternative meeting space, but that is not currently an option for us. Unfortunately, we are in the middle of a double-whammy by both COVID-19 and our construction project. The good news is that by 2021—after a very long wait—we will have all the space we need to run our Sunday morning ministry.

If you are unable or uncomfortable joining us in person, you can still worship with us! As always, we will be offering the livestream of the service on Facebook and YouTube at 10:30 am.

One last thing: because of the large task of setting up and tearing down for two services with limited space, we are really in need of volunteers on Sunday mornings. If you are willing to help with getting, disinfecting, or moving chairs and furniture, please contact us and let us know.

We hope to see you Sunday!

Pastor Mike