Re-opening Announcement

Announcement 05/22/2020

Dear church family,

You’ve probably heard the news from President Trump today. His administration has issued guidance deeming places of worship “essential” during the coronavirus pandemic, calling on governors to reopen religious institutions for services. He has called upon governors in individual states to “allow churches and places of worship to open right now.”

This is encouraging news. Our leadership team is watching things carefully. We are planning to have a special video meeting during the early part of this coming week to discuss this new development. But there are a few things I need to let you know right now:

First, there is a question of whether or not the President’s issuance today has the power to override the executive orders of individual state governors. We need to wait to see how this matter plays out legally. As it now stands, Washington County has today requested consideration for Phase 1 status; and that request will be reviewed by Governor Brown this coming week. It is expected that Phase 1 status will be granted to Washington County by June 1. And so, in our case, it seems best to wait for that process to be completed at a state level.

And second, as a church–even if we can open legally–we still want to open safely. If we open too quickly, we can put vulnerable people in danger. And so; we are in the process of securing some of the safety and sanitization measures that we need to have in place before we can allow people to re-enter the sanctuary for worship. This is a matter of good stewardship and of good witness to the community. In order to do this, we need just a bit more time before we can allow people in on a Sunday morning.

So; while the news is very positive, we are holding off from opening the church building just yet. We plan to continue to stream our services on Facebook Live as usual this Sunday and Wednesday. I will keep you informed of things as I hear from our leadership team. Until then, I encourage you to keep safe–but to please keep praying for wisdom for our leadership team.

And praise God! The news looks very good; and we hope to be able to be together again very soon.

Pastor Greg