Video Transcript:
Hey City Life Church, the elders have been discussing, praying, and asking for your feedback on our plan to gather again in person.
We deeply miss worshipping together, praying with you, even sharing meals in person. We feel the limitations of our virtual connections. However, we want to be prudent when deciding on a timeline and plan to meet in person again. So, with respect to the immediate future, we do not plan to gather together in the ballet for services for the rest of the month of May. Even though things are opening back up, the elders want to be conservative on our timeline for several reasons:
- Public Health – according to city health officials the number of COVID-related hospitalizations continues to rise each day. The city is recommended avoiding large gatherings until that number is steadily declines.
- Logistical Concerns – if we did meet soon – the measures of distancing, seating, flow of people, the unavailability of Kids Life, and the technical needs for dual services make it difficult to see a partial gathering as a win.
- If we did meet, our regathering would only be half in person and half would still be online – this would not be the joyful reunion and coming together we all look forward to.
We have sent out a survey last week and have already received feedback that confirms this conviction that we should have a slower reopening timeline.
I want to mention two other things:
First, if you are experiencing fear as things begin to open up, I want to remind you that being afraid is not a sin. When Christ appears to the disciples after his resurrection, he didn’t rebuke them for being afraid, he invited them to draw near to him. The comfort of Christ comes when we realize we have the presence of someone near us who is much greater than what is causing our fear.
Second, you maybe feeling disconnected, lonely, or lacking community. That’s true, we are disconnected from community. We encourage you not to passively wait for all this to blow over, or even to wait others to reach out. No, we encourage you to actively love others. I know some of you are all zoomed out right now, but look for ways to instigate connection and community. I was so encouraged to hear of city groups having virtual lunch together after Sunday’s service and other groups that hosted virtual game nights. This is also a time to connect to a city group or fight club if you’re not in one yet. Our city groups and FCs are still meeting and sharing life together. We have some links on this video description that can point you in the right direction for those.
Lastly, we are looking for other ways to spark spiritual vibrancy in our community, so keep an eye out for some new options we’ll be launching soon to help us all draw near to Christ as his body of believers.
Your elders and leaders are praying for you and are here to listen, pray, or encourage you however we can during this trial. Don’t hesitate to reach out.