Dear New Life Center family,
Before we begin, I want you to know we are praying for you individually and as a leadership team! I know for many, this has and continues to be, a tough time. You are loved!
Concerning relaunching services, here is our plan:
Our desire is to minister to everyone within the spectrum of our church body. There are those that, because of physical or personal reasons, would prefer to remain at home a little while longer while others were ready to get back a month ago. We are making no judgements on either end of this spectrum but desire to minister to our whole church body. In that spirit, we are making provision for everyone.
For those that desire or need to remain at home, we will continue our online services. We are also in the process of working on our streaming capabilities and will, prayerfully, be up and running with that soon!
For those that desire and are able to meet in-person but are in an ‘at-risk’ category, we are designating an early service for you. We are calling this service our “regular service.” It will meet from 9 to 10 on Sundays. By “at-risk”, we are referring to those with compromised immune systems or 60 years of age and above. During this service, we will worship God together while maintaining social distancing.
What to expect:
– Please enter and exit the church building only using the south/double doors. This is to limit possible physical contact with others.
– We will sit every other row.
– The offering and guest cards will be placed in an offering bucket at the back of the sanctuary before and following service but will not be passed between people.
– We will not have our regular time of greeting during service or hand out bulletins.
– We will pray for one another 6 feet apart.
– We will not have active children’s ministries and nursery. (The nursery room will be available for those that need it)
– When leaving service, try to maintain 6 feet distance between you and others.
– Following service, we will wipe down hard surfaces and disinfect in preparation for our next service. If you would like to fellowship following service (which we encourage), we ask that the conversations would be taken outside.
Our late service is going to be called our “family service.” This service will meet from 10:45 to 12 noon on Sundays. This service will be dedicated to those individuals that would fall into the “low-risk” category; those with healthy immune systems or 59 years of age and below. During this service, we will worship God together while maintaining social distancing.
What to expect:
– Please enter and exit the church building only using the south/double doors. This is to limit possible physical contact with others.
– We will sit every other row.
– The offering and guest cards will be placed in an offering bucket at the back of the sanctuary before and following service but will not be passed between people.
– We will not have our regular time of greeting during service or hand out bulletins.
– We will pray for one another 6 feet apart.
– We will not have active children’s ministries and nursery. (The nursery room will be available for those that need it)
– When leaving service try to maintain 6 feet distance between you and others.
This style of service is not our preference, but we desire to keep everyone health and honor the authorities. If you would like to wear a mask, you are welcome but we will not demand you to do so. It is your own prerogative.
We will need help between services wiping down all our hard surfaces. If you would like to be a part of our cleaning crew, please let Hubert Deines know.
Here is our tentative timetable moving forward (all of this will depend upon the virus and the governor’s response):
• The next three weeks, May 10, 17, 24, we will have our “regular and family services”
• If things go well, on May 31 we will combine services. At this point, there will still be no children’s ministries or Sunday school/ Bible Fellowship. Only in the final phase of the governor’s orders are social distancing guidelines relaxed. The earliest those could resume would be June 7th.
• May 17, Sunday evening prayer meetings will resume We will not meet on May 24th due to Memorial Day weekend.
• The Coffee House small group will begin this Wednesday, May 13th For our first time back, no bible study; just a time of talking.
• Loads of Love will start back June 9.
• As for Summer camps, we are still waiting on word from the district. Our plan is to attend, but we will have to follow their lead.
We will make sure our website is up to date on upcoming events and ministries so, if you have questions, please check our online calendar or call the church office. We look forward to the day we can return to full services. Thank you for your patience and presence during this difficult time.
Ministry leaders – Please continue, as much as possible, to take this time as a time of rest in the Lord. As we get closer to coming fully online please strive to reboot and re-examine your ministries! Are there things you would like to work on that you normally do not have time to work on? Are there people you would like to encourage to be a part of your ministry that you haven’t talked to yet? Take this time and allow it to be a time of growth that when we come back into the full swing of things that we as a church body will minister with greater excellence!
To the church body as a whole, keep reaching out. Let us continue to make the best use of our time! Let us continue to be the Church! Strive to see the needs of the people around you and, in Christ’s love, meeting them. Thank for being the church in this time of such fear. Please keep it up if you’ve been engaging and jump in if you haven’t. You are sowing seeds that will be reaped in eternity!
Please pray for wisdom from our church and state leaders, and for the health of our friends, family and nation.
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Sabian