Outdoor Worship Sunday 7/17/20
/Watch a video version of this announcement here
FGC Family,
Covid19 cases and hospitalizations increasing in our state, thankfully the number of deaths has not matched those increases in recent weeks. This week our governor announced that multiple counties including Fresno have returned to a modified version of lock down for 3 weeks. What is banned right now is indoor meetings, and this has also been applied broadly to restaurants and other places of meeting.
If you remember in our previous position paper we expressed our concern to honor 3 important principals: First, Obedience to God- which includes gathering for worship. Second, love for neighbor- which includes doing reasonable things to prevent the spread of the disease. But also includes the truth that not being able to gather for worship and fellowship is bad for us spiritually and physically. Thirdly, our desire to honor the government where possible. Our current decision is still rooted in those principals.
Our plan is to meet at our church building, outside. Mostly under our carports. There is a lot of room there. We met there for our men’s meeting this morning. We will meet at 9am to avoid the heat. The most recent forecast says it will be around 81 degrees. We think that is reasonable since most of us attend outdoor events at that temperature. We encourage you to dress for the heat. We will aim to have our service last about an hour.
We will be following many of the same precautions. So if you have any symptoms like a cough or fever or loss of smell or taste please stay home (and contact us if you need help, prayer or encouragement). Also here are a few more tips:
We will not have nursery or childcare during the service.
We will still be practicing social distancing and encourage you to wear a mask, though it is not required because we are outside.
Our service will still also be streamed to YouTube for those that cannot attend.
Based on previous attendance the majority of us should fit under the car port. But if a lot of people come we may need to have some folks sit in an area without shade, so if you are able and willing to help with that, please bring a hat and an umbrella for the sun. You can leave it in your car and we can use it if needed. Based on how things work out we will tentatively plan to do this for the coming weeks and will communicate any changes with you all.
We do want you to know that we are concerned about the potential for government over reach in these orders. As of now we believe it is possible for us to honor the order without disobeying God. But we are prayerfully watching what is going on and if and when we believe that our government is preventing us from obeying God we will choose to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29). Where is that line in our current situation? We don’t have a certain answer for future actions, but we are doing what we can to research and prayerfully think through all of this.
We know that no matter what decision we make there are probably going to be some of the folks in our congregation that are not entirely happy with it. So our first concern is to do what we believe is right before the Lord, and then to patiently and humbly communicate with you all and listen. Feel free to contact us if you have concerns or would like to talk.
In the Love of Christ, Pastors Matt and Andy
