An Update on In-Person Worship Gatherings
Let the inner movement of your heart always be to love one another. ~Romans 12:9 (The Passion Translation)
Dearly Beloved Friends,
On behalf of the church’s COVID-19 task force, I want to thank you for your patience and prayers as we navigate uncharted waters. The task force has met and communicated regularly about our in-person worship gatherings with an ongoing “inner movement of the heart” to love each other. We wanted to provide you with an update and the reasoning behind some of our more recent decisions that will hopefully answer any questions you might have.
1. Event Brite Reservation System: Reservations will no longer be required for Sunday morning worship, but we would appreciate it if you would still make a reservation since it is a helpful tool for us in two key areas. First, should an attendee test positive for COVID-19, Event Brite allows us to easily access who else was present that Sunday and let them know. Secondly, the reservations help us to exercise good stewardship. If we know how many people plan to come, for example, we will know how many bulletins to print, how many ushers to have, and how many Communion sets we’ll need, so that we can be good stewards of those resources.
2. Mask Requirement: Masks will continue to be required for the whole service. Some of our members may be more at risk for COVID-19 than others, and we want for everyone to be safe if they choose to attend in person. For right now, given the Mississippi Department of Health recommendations, we feel the mask requirement needs to continue. However, know that the task force continually reassess this requirement and will make a change when we feel it’s safe to do so.
3. Communication: The task force wants everyone to know that we are listening to you and appreciate how much you love and care for this congregation. As a reminder, if you need to get in touch with any of us, the members of the task force are: Jim Helveston (Security Chair), Robin McCormick (Finance Member /Past SPRC Chair), Bill Maclean (Lay Member of AC), Melanie Sanders (Lay Leader), Marc Stewart (Admin Council Chair), and Jessi Sugg (CDC Chair).
May our Lord continue to richly bless each of us with an “inner movement of love” in a heart that beats for him alone!
all good things to each of you,
Dr. Darian