Dear Church Family,
We enter into week two of our collective choice to distance ourselves physically from one another with renewed energy to find ways to continue our corporate worship of God, our study of scripture, our shared prayer, and our service to and love of our neighbors. We are having to think creatively and learn some new skills, but I think in the end, we will be glad we have.
Here are some things to know about as we move forward together:
- Website: We have a new page on our website with up-to-date information about what’s happening with our church outside the walls while the buildings are closed. If you have internet access, you can always check that page at com/the-open-church/
- Worship: We have virtual worship being recorded each week and posted to our church YouTube and Facebook page. If you don’t have internet access, at 11:00 a.m. each Sunday, you can call +1-646-876-9923, and enter meeting ID 276-632-6336#, followed by another # sign. This will allow you to hear our worship service over the phone.
- Bible Study: We have a new opportunity beginning Wednesday, March 25th and continuing each Wednesday night at 5:00 p.m. (except for during Holy Week) to continue our Bible study together via Zoom conference call. You can join in online (watch your email for instructions) or via phone (same call-in information as above) to interact and listen to the Bible study. If you join on a computer, you can also watch the video and see each other’s faces.
- Giving: Opportunities to give continue, as our church and its ministries are OPEN. You can give online at com/give or mail in your tithes and offerings to the church office. If you’d like to designate for a fund like our CBF Offering for Global Missions, you can do that in the memo line.
- Church Office: Our church office remains open from 9:30AM to 3:30PM each day, Monday – Friday. Call, text, or email us as needs may arise.
- Deacons & Care: Deacons are reaching out to their care groups to check in. Need someone to run an errand while you are self-quarantined? Let your deacon or the church office know. We have a mission team who would love to help! Know a neighbor who needs help, but you’re unable? Let us know that, too!
- Service to Neighbors: Speaking of helping neighbors, if you are able to get out some, there are plenty of folks who cannot. We have created a card for offering assistance to our neighbors, whether literal neighbors, friends from church, or other community members whose homes we perhaps pass by for work. Here is a link to this printable card. Print copies, make your own version, or pick up hard copies of this card at the church office (or ask and we’ll mail you some) so you can leave these with your neighbors to offer help in Jesus’s name.
- Stay Connected: Lastly, don’t lose contact with each other. It’s easy when we’re not seeing folks to forget to reach out. Make a phone call, write a letter, offer a prayer for our church family and this community. Your love and communication can go a long way in serving God and sharing God’s love with a hurting world – and it might just change your worries into hope as well.
Thank you, dear church, for being so faithful, for loving each other, for serving our community, and for doing your part to keep our community safe during this time of quarantine. I am praying for all of you, and I am here for you. Please call/text/email me any time for any needs you may have (physical, emotional, spiritual). I am here for you.
In Christ,
Libby