In person worship
Dear Friends,
Grace and peace to you all! I can’t tell you how proud I am to be your pastor and to walk with you through these unprecedented times. Even through a pandemic your church is still doing vital ministry in the name of Jesus Christ and making disciples of Jesus who will transform the world for God.
As required by our Bishop and District Superintendent we have put together a team from our church to make a plan to help us to gather together in a safe way. We have submitted this plan to our District Superintendent and have agreed to follow the safeguards as laid out by the Bishop’s health team.
On Sunday, July 19th, we will hold our first in-person worship service in nearly 4 months. As we begin in-person worship, we will continue to have our regular online worship on Facebook and YouTube starting at 9:45 and would encourage all those who are able to worship online to do so.
The in-person service on July 19th will begin at 9:45 and will be held outside under the performance pavilion at the Caroline County Fairgrounds Complex just off of Rt 1.
These are the requirements to attend worship at the County fairgrounds July 19th 9:45 am.
1) Pre-Register by noon on July 16 all those in your family who plan to attend the service. You can preregister by calling the church office at 804-448-1251 and leaving the names of all of those who plan to attend. You can also register by signing up for our text service. Text wrights to 804-409-3980 and we’ll send you a reminder. If you prefer not to sign up for reminders, you can text the names of all the people who are planning to attend to 804-409-3980 by July 16 at noon. Because we are limited in the number of people we can allow to attend the service, please only register if you actually plan to attend.
2) Upon arriving you’ll be asked to review a health questionnaire concerning COVID and provide contact information. Volunteers will take everyone’s temperature prior to the beginning of the service.
3) During the service keep 6 feet of distance from all people except those with whom you are in normal daily contact. Also maintain social distance while entering and exiting the grounds.
4) Wearing masks is strongly recommended during the entire time.
5) There will be no congregational singing, no hugging, no handshaking etc.
6) There will be Porta Potties for bathrooms.
We will resume in-person worship services each Sunday in the sanctuary of Wright’s Chapel starting August 2 at 9:45 am.
These are the requirements to attend:
Pre-Register by noon on the Thursday before the service all those in your family who plan to attend the coming Sunday worship service. You can preregister by calling the church office at 804-448-1251 and leaving the names of all of those who plan to attend. You can also register by signing up for our text service. Text wrights to 804-409-3980 and we’ll send you reminders to sign up. If you prefer not to sign up for reminders, you can text the names of all the people who are planning to attend to 804-409-3980 by Thursday at noon. Because we are limited in the number of people we can allow to attend the services, please only register for the weeks you plan to actually attend.
2) Upon arriving you’ll be asked to review a health questionnaire concerning COVID and provide contact information. Volunteers will take everyone’s temperature prior to the beginning of the service.
3) During the service keep 6 feet of distance from all people except those you are in normal daily contact with. Also maintain social distance while entering and exiting the building and in the parking lot.
4) Wearing masks is required the entire time you are in the church building. There are no exceptions for anyone, including children, those with special needs or those with breathing difficulties etc. This is a mandate from the Bishop of the Virginia Conference.
5) There will be no congregational singing, no sung special music, no hugging, no handshaking, no coffee or refreshments. no Children’s Sunday school, no nursery and no special needs room.
We will also be broadcasting the live service through a FM transmitter into the front church parking lot for those who would like to remain in their cars and not enter the building.
I realize that there is nothing normal about the requirements we have laid out. We are however, not in normal times. I thank those who are serving on our Healthy Church Team. We are following the directions we have been given in order to be able to gather together and worship God. Anyone who chooses not to follow the requirements would first be asked to leave. If they refuse to leave, I’ve been instructed to shut down the worship service for the day.
Again, because we are limited in the number of people who can attend the service, it will be helpful if those who are able to worship online continue to do so. We have a number of people in our church without access to any online platforms and our hope is to be better able to serve them with worship.
Thank you for all you have done and continue to do! We will get through this! And while we are getting through it, we will continue to serve God and love one another as we make disciples for Jesus Christ.
Peace Charles