As you are probably aware, the Governor has given churches permission to open with some guidelines. Some of the guidelines are mandatory and some of them are suggestions. We asked for some input through a survey and received over 250 responses. Thank you for the excellent input and comments.
The Church Council has taken all of this under consideration and especially considered Winfree’s specific situation. At this current time there are some things we are going to do and some things we are not going to do. But we want to emphasize that there are many things that are unknown and constantly changing. We will continue to monitor the situation and take steps back towards “normal” as we are able.
Under the things we are not doing to do category:
We all miss each other and miss our corporate worship times together. But we are not going to rush back to having large group worship here at the campus. There are two big reasons why we are delaying holding corporate worship:
1. There is a significant challenge with the number of people we can safely accommodate in both of our worship spaces. The “50% capacity” guideline really isn’t as relevant for us as the required social distancing and its impact. In the Sanctuary, using the best seating methods possible, but keeping 5-6 feet between couples and singles, the most we could put on the main floor of the Sanctuary is 80 people, when average attendance was 150-160.
In the MAC for Contemporary worship, the situation is worse. Even if we utilize sections with sets of 4 chairs for families, then 5-6 feet, then another set of 4 chairs, and then had another section with triples spaced apart, and another section with couples spaced apart and then some singles, the most we could get in the MAC is 125 people. Our average attendance has been over 330. That just doesn’t work out logistically very well, even if we had multiple services.
2. The other significant reason has to do with the quality of the experience. We would not be able to shake hands or hug. We would be seated 6 feet from each other in a sparsely occupied room. We would all need to wear masks, especially when singing, if we even had congregational singing. In the Traditional service, we would not be able to have a full choir, but something very nominal at best. The recommended guideline is to suspend choir completely. We would not be able to offer a nursery or children’s Sunday School classes. The bottom line, it would not be the experience that we all miss and yearn for. It would not be the experience that we envision for our guests either.
We will see how things continue to unfold, but at least for now, we are not going to restart large congregational worship.
But here is what we are thinking about doing:
Adult and youth Bible study leaders are polling their class members about their comfort level in meeting if we can provide a large enough space to be socially distanced. We may discover a way that classes can meet together and then, if they would like, watch the live stream together. So if you don’t hear from your teacher, please contact them!
We are also going to consider any creative ways we could meet as a church, perhaps outdoors, spread across the parking lot in chairs. We are glad for any suggestions along those lines.
We are going to continue to offer all the things we are doing with our virtual worship service … and more is coming. We feel like the online service is going well, and we think the quality has improved lately. We will continue to emphasize that with our time, effort, and finances. We will need to continue online events even as we start to regather. In fact, our online form of church may be a valuable part of what we do moving forward.
But, please know that this is a very fluid situation. Things will be different in a couple of months. We just don’t know how they will be different. We will continue to monitor things and certainly take steps forward as we feel it is safe for our church family and guests. In the meantime, let’s continue to stay in touch with each other and care for people in our community.
