Church Closure & the Yellow Phase

Out of an abundance of caution to keep the most vulnerable among us safe, and after weighing guidelines from the state, the wider church, and our insurance company, we will delay returning to in-person worship until the green phase.

This means that our buildings will continue to be closed until further notice. While we continue to be temporarily closed, all in-person gatherings, including Sunday worship and any reservations at the church or Activity Center by outside groups will be canceled. Our administrator will continue to have reduced hours in the office on Tuesday and Thursday 9 AM to 3 PM and to be available by phone and via email. Online worship will be available on our church Facebook page and website.

Some of the Details…

Guidelines from the wider church recommend that, until groups of 50 or more people can safely gather, congregations should refrain from: singing together, speaking together (i.e. the Confession, the Lord’s Prayer), passing the peace, and partaking in communion.

Guidelines from our church insurance spelled out considerations for social distancing and sanitizing. Given these recommendations, it became apparent that the dimensions of our buildings would be make maintaining these safe distances between family units particularly difficult. Our church building is full of tight spaces, and the Activity Center simply does not have adequate square footage even for small groups.

Given these parameters, we will wait until green phase when it will be easier and safer to gather.