We are getting excited for the reopening of our church on June 14, 2020. Just to see people, even if the logistics inside our sanctuary will feel different, will be a beautiful reminder of how important our church family is as we come and worship together.
As we begin to consider reconvening our church services, people in high-risk demographics should be encouraged to not physically attend regular worship services. To aide those with underlying conditions and our elderly, it will be possible to view our service on YouTube and Facebook.
Please read these important instructions, recommended by CDC Guidelines, before entering the sanctuary.
According to the CDC, the following sanitation practices should be implemented:
- Take the temperature of people who attend services
- Require everyone to use hand sanitizer upon entering the building
- Disinfect high traffic areas, including restroom facilities between uses
- Remind members to cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue
- We ask everyone to please wear a mask. There will be masks and hand sanitizer available in the vestibule area
The following are further appropriate adjustments:
- We will not pass the offering plates, but instead, collect tithes and offerings in the vestibule area on a specific table set aside for this practice. Please feel free to take additional tithing envelopes for your use. You will also have the option of mailing in your tithes and/or using the Faithlife application on your mobile device (if you need instructions on how to use this app, please see Pastor McGee)
- Certain common areas (for our church the fellowship hall and classrooms) will be closed to mitigate interaction
- All church programs and other literature will be available on the table in the vestibule
- When we conduct Lord’s Supper, we will not proceed to the altar and receive the elements, rather we have purchased a Lord’s Supper disposable kit to ensure multiple people do not come into contact with the same surfaces and objects.
- Our greeters, before entering the church, will not be able to shake hands, hug or kiss members or any visitors. Along with this, we will for now, dismiss our “greeting time” as we’re used to doing before service. Good news, you can wave or “air hug and air kiss” as an alternative
- Adjustments as far as seating is concerned will still adhere to the recommended six feet apart and the staggering of families sitting in every other pew. If there are additional people on the same pew, we would ask members/families to move to the opposite end of the same pew
- Hymnal books and bibles will be taken from the pews as well, for now, preventing contamination by touching the books
For more information on the guidelines presented by the CDC, visit FRC.ORG/CHURCH.
These instructions are for our protection and well-being. However strenuous these guidelines are meant to be for our safety, may we keep in mind the respect we must keep for one another’s health, peace, wholeness, and security.
We are looking forward to a wonderful reopening! Let us come together and praise God in the midst of these unusual times and find gratitude and blessing for His faithfulness and love.
Byron W. McGee, Senior Pastor
Cornerstone Baptist Church