Dear church family,
As you know, we canceled church this past week due to a positive case of Covid-19 within the church. We now know of not just one, but several families who have either tested positive or have been in close contact with someone who did. Most of us also have friends or family who have tested positive, or even died, from this virus.
On top of these personal experiences, we continue to see growing numbers in our state and counties, with September's active numbers nearly matching the numbers of March through August. In North Dakota, we went from 12,000 to 22,000.
During those spring months we chose not to meet, despite relatively low numbers. We have now been meeting for several months, and have been taking few, if any precautions.
Many of us want to come to church services regardless of how we feel. I love this desire to be with each other, but especially for those who don’t desire to be tested, there is no way to know if a cough is just a cough or if it’s something worse. There are also people coming despite the fact that they are at risk, some highly at risk. Again, we sincerely appreciate your dedication to the local church, but while spiritual care is our job as elders, physical care has to be as well.
As elders, Kevin and I met this week to discuss our current situation.
We considered ending greeting time, spacing chairs and even mandating masks. Spacing chairs would have reduced our seating capacity, which would have meant some people couldn’t come anyway. Plus, we really don’t have a way to mandate masks, nor keep you all from hugging each other. Again, it’s something I love to see your closeness as the family of God, but many people can carry this with no symptoms. So, even a hug or a handshake from seemingly healthy people can lead to spreading.
With all that in mind, as elders of the church, Kevin and I have decided to cancel all services for the month of October. This includes Sunday services, Wednesday night services, the annual meeting and Harvest Supper.
This was not an easy decision, but we feel it is in the best interest for the safety of our church and community as we monitor the Covid-19 situation.
It is also heavy on our hearts that many people in this state are not taking this virus seriously. Many refuse to wear masks, take little precautions in general and spend time around others while they are knowingly sick. I believe in personal liberties, but as Christians, we were not freed to be selfish. We were freed from selfishness.
One reason we do not feel we can have services right now, even with precautions, is because we don’t feel confident that, at this point, those precautions we set would be followed by everyone.
For us to reopen, especially if we don’t see a fall in cases and deaths, it will take serious commitment from this church family to follow the precautions we would set forth.
While we won’t be meeting as usual this month. I would ask that none of you take the month of October off from BEING the church or from following Christ.
Use this month as an opportunity to make phone calls, to write letters, to read your Bibles, to develop a stronger prayer life, to continue tithing, to listen to messages, and to start family devotions.
As before, I will be uploading sermons online. It is my hope to record live on YouTube so that we might watch at the same time together. This week that will be the usual time of 11 am. If you do miss the live feed, however, I will also post the video afterwards.
For Wednesday night Bible study, I am looking into how we might meet together virtually, so we can enjoy our usual conversational style study.
Thank you all for your commitment to this local fellowship and for your prayer.
From Kevin and myself (and our wives), we love you all. We are praying for you, and we are seekly the Lord’s wisdom daily for the care of this church family.
God Bless you.
As you know, we canceled church this past week due to a positive case of Covid-19 within the church. We now know of not just one, but several families who have either tested positive or have been in close contact with someone who did. Most of us also have friends or family who have tested positive, or even died, from this virus.
On top of these personal experiences, we continue to see growing numbers in our state and counties, with September's active numbers nearly matching the numbers of March through August. In North Dakota, we went from 12,000 to 22,000.
During those spring months we chose not to meet, despite relatively low numbers. We have now been meeting for several months, and have been taking few, if any precautions.
Many of us want to come to church services regardless of how we feel. I love this desire to be with each other, but especially for those who don’t desire to be tested, there is no way to know if a cough is just a cough or if it’s something worse. There are also people coming despite the fact that they are at risk, some highly at risk. Again, we sincerely appreciate your dedication to the local church, but while spiritual care is our job as elders, physical care has to be as well.
As elders, Kevin and I met this week to discuss our current situation.
We considered ending greeting time, spacing chairs and even mandating masks. Spacing chairs would have reduced our seating capacity, which would have meant some people couldn’t come anyway. Plus, we really don’t have a way to mandate masks, nor keep you all from hugging each other. Again, it’s something I love to see your closeness as the family of God, but many people can carry this with no symptoms. So, even a hug or a handshake from seemingly healthy people can lead to spreading.
With all that in mind, as elders of the church, Kevin and I have decided to cancel all services for the month of October. This includes Sunday services, Wednesday night services, the annual meeting and Harvest Supper.
This was not an easy decision, but we feel it is in the best interest for the safety of our church and community as we monitor the Covid-19 situation.
It is also heavy on our hearts that many people in this state are not taking this virus seriously. Many refuse to wear masks, take little precautions in general and spend time around others while they are knowingly sick. I believe in personal liberties, but as Christians, we were not freed to be selfish. We were freed from selfishness.
One reason we do not feel we can have services right now, even with precautions, is because we don’t feel confident that, at this point, those precautions we set would be followed by everyone.
For us to reopen, especially if we don’t see a fall in cases and deaths, it will take serious commitment from this church family to follow the precautions we would set forth.
While we won’t be meeting as usual this month. I would ask that none of you take the month of October off from BEING the church or from following Christ.
Use this month as an opportunity to make phone calls, to write letters, to read your Bibles, to develop a stronger prayer life, to continue tithing, to listen to messages, and to start family devotions.
As before, I will be uploading sermons online. It is my hope to record live on YouTube so that we might watch at the same time together. This week that will be the usual time of 11 am. If you do miss the live feed, however, I will also post the video afterwards.
For Wednesday night Bible study, I am looking into how we might meet together virtually, so we can enjoy our usual conversational style study.
Thank you all for your commitment to this local fellowship and for your prayer.
From Kevin and myself (and our wives), we love you all. We are praying for you, and we are seekly the Lord’s wisdom daily for the care of this church family.
God Bless you.