We were in the middle of a Zoom staff meeting when the Premier announced that places of worship could reopen to 30% capacity. Wow - we had planned for a lot of possibilities but hadn't expected that one just yet! Within a few hours I started to hear from some of you asking what our service would look like on Sunday. I'm so glad that there was so much interest - yeah church!
Take a look at this video for an overview of how our plans are coming together so you'll be totally in-the-know. Here are the highlights:
Livestream will continue on Sunday as it has been for the past few months. Continue to share, comment and interact as much as you can!
Next Sunday, June 21, we are hoping to open the church as a livestream viewing site. Service will still be livestreamed as normal but there will be an option to RSVP to come and view it together with others. In other words, the service won't be live from the church, but we'll show the livestream on the screen in the sanctuary. (Seating capacity is 50 people at this time.)
Many new protocols will be in place for gathering at 30% of capacity. These will be easy to find on our web page early next week and will be a part of the RSVP process as well.
We really want to see you and be together again. At the same time we are proceeding with caution to ensure that we do everything with much care and in compliance with our governments guidelines... which are still being issued and clarified as you receive this email.
These are INCREDIBLE times in so many ways. We will not be looking for the best way to get back to doing everything exactly the same as it was before. We're looking for all the ways that this tragic pandemic has allowed us new opportunities to share Christ and "go into all the world and make disciples". (Matthew 28:19)
I want to urge you to consider these next few weeks very carefully and think about the new connections, friendships and opportunities to serve your neighbours that this crisis has created. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to share the message of the gospel in new and creative ways and use every opportunity for the Kingdom. What could our community look like if we all invited someone to church with us who has been checking out the livestream, or, as restrictions allow, invited a neighbour family over for a meal and got to know their story, or offered to take someone through First Steps who has been asking questions about faith over the past few months? What could happen???
I pray that the Holy Spirit, who is alive and active in each life, would have the hearts, minds and ears of this church and we would be changed forever for the sake of Christ and doing His world in the world around us.
Pastor Tracy
