Covid-19 Update

July 29th, 2020

Hello Highlanders!

Last night your session met, prayed, discussed, and discerned how we as a church community can best share God's love with each other and our communities. There is no doubt that all of us are tired of the changes that we have endured because of the corona-virus. I am sure that, like all of us involved in the discussion last night, you want to be back to in-person worship as soon as possible.

Part of our discussion, the most exciting part to me, was focused around how we can utilize our resources to meet the needs arising in this strange time. We looked at the great work that the food pantry is continuing to do and how it has adapted on the fly to meet community needs in a say way. We looked at how we can continue to support our learning center as it has adapted to be able to remain open and provide critical support families in our community.

We are also looking into how we might be able to support our families in new ways as those with school-age children face an uncertain fall and the start of the school-year with remote learning. We are continuing to explore what that might look like.

Finally, as we turned to the question of in-person worship, and when we might be able to return to worshiping together in that way, we considered information from many sources. We took into account the latest information and recommendations from local, state, and federal public health organizations. We also considered the recommendations from Presbytery, which included a prohibition on indoor in-person worship in August. Finally, we considered the needs and realities of our local community and congregation.

With all of that in mind, the session decided to make preparations so that we will be able to return to in-person worship as soon as possible, after the state enters phase 3 of reopening. While we all want to be back now, we feel that this is the most responsible decision based on all of the information available to us.

The re-opening, when it happens, will be on a limited basis - with one in-person service a week on Sunday morning. We have no plans to make any changes to our current online worship service in the immediate future, as it will remain available for those unable or unwilling to return to in person worship.

We are already working to have plans in place so that we can move quickly to be ready as soon as we enter phase 3. Currently, we are scheduled to enter phase 3 in the second week of August and we are working on that timeline. We will, of course, continue to closely monitor the situation and will adjust accordingly if necessary.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly or any staff or session member.

Sharing God's Love,
~Chip

Posted in Covid 19 Updates