Obviously, going anywhere involves risks. Just riding in a car is a dangerous activity, and so we take safety precautions like wearing seat belts and driving a safe speed. We have a similar philosophy about church: while it can’t be made perfectly safe, we want to take reasonable and common sense steps to make church as safe as possible for as many people as possible. 

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We have safety measures in place for lots of things – sprinkler systems for fire safety, security procedures for kids and general safety, AED (defibrillator) and first aid kits for medical emergencies, and more.

 

So what about infectious diseases like Covid-19? 

The key questions seem to be 1) How likely am I to catch a disease, and 2) how likely is that disease to cause a critical illness?  

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Therefore, we are taking the following steps to address both questions:

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1) Slowing the spread

Infectious diseases spread 3 ways: Person-to-person, from touching surfaces, and through the air. We’re working to reduce the risk of spread on all 3 fronts. 
Person-to-person: This is the most common way diseases spread. Fever is generally the earliest sign of illness (also true with Covid-19) so we’re emphasizing our efforts to make it easy for people to stay home and live-stream the service if you think you might be sick. Let us know if you need a meal or if we can run an errand for you!  
Touching surfaces: We are sanitizing every common surface in the church before each service. We’ve always done this in our children’s ministry, and now we’re doing an even more diligent job. 
Through the air: Our building has high ceilings and excellent ventilation (which medical experts say contributes to reducing airborne spread). We’ve also deployed HEPA + UV filters around the building to further help with ventilation and air filtering. Our ventilation system filters have a high MERV rating and are changed regularly.  

 

2) Protecting the Vulnerable 

Covid-19, like other infectious disease are most likely to result in a critical level of illness for those that have severe underlying conditions (especially conditions involving the lungs) and is more dangerous the older you get. 
In response to this, we are encouraging those that are especially vulnerable (or who are in close proximity to those that are very vulnerable) to live-stream our services rather than attend in person. For those that are live-streaming, the pastors (and many in our congregation) are making extra efforts to make socially distanced, outdoor “porch visits” and making extra phone calls to stay connected to those that are unable to attend a service. We also have teams of people who are helping to deliver meals or run errands for those that need help. 

We understand that people will come to different conclusions on what should be done in these difficult matters, and so we are putting extra effort into expressing and demonstrating respect for those with different views. Our love for one-another as Christians, and our love for our community is bigger than any differences we have over the best medical practices.

 

Whatever your personal convictions on these matters are, we want you to know that we’re praying for you and we’re eager to be a blessing and an encouragement to you in any way we can!  
 

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