Hello everyone! There will be a lot happening in the life of the church in September and October so please read through the announcements and if you have any questions contact Pastor Chris. Also, plan on attending the townhall on September 20th! God Bless you all in this week and we pray that God would bless you, keep you, make his face to shine upon you and give you peace!
WE ARE CELEBRATING THE LORD’S SUPPER THIS SUNDAY DURING ONLINE WORSHIP! This Sunday we will be gathering at our usual time at 12:10p on our YouTube channel. . Pastor Chris will be speaking on Jonah 2:8-10, about living, loving, and learning grace.
Also, after church we will be having fellowship time in in ‘the lobby’ (a zoom chat room) so please come after the service and say hello. Find the Zoom link on the live chat on youtube and our Facebook page.
ONLINE TITHING: Please consider tithing online while we are not meeting in person: https://www.rcnewtown.org/donate
NEXT THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10th, 8p.m STAYING SANE IN THE MIDST OF COVID 19 (AND EVERYTHING ELSE), PT 2: WORKING THROUGH STRESS, ANXIETY, AND STRUGGLES. This is a stressful time for all of us. On Thursday night at 8p on Facebook live we are going to talk about Biblically grounded ways that we can work through stress, anxiety, and other struggles.
SEPT 20th: ONLINE TOWNHALL MEETING, 1:30p. We have not had an English congregation townhall meeting since before the pandemic and it is time to meet again! There is alot going on in the life of the church so this will be a time to share about worship in the fall, the financials of the church, church programs and other decisions and events.
SEPT 27th: CHURCH PICNIC!
Af 2:30p after church on the 27th we will gather at Elmhurst Park for the English congregations first in person gathering since March! Please wear a mask, and plan on social distancing. Also, BYOL (bring your own lunch). It will great to see each other again (from appropriate social distance of course:)!
IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE CHURCH SNAPSHOT YET, PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE TO READ ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE CHURCH! Since we have been meeting remotely it is hard to get a picture of what is going on at the church beyond our circles. Though we are not meeting at the church God is still working in the church, so click HERE to get an idea of what God has been doing and how the community has sought to serve Him in these last months. This snapshot will include what has been going on in the various ministries of the church as well as what our deacons and elders have been working on.
PHASES OF REOPENING
The elder board and consistory have been working on phases of return to reopening the church and having people return to in person services. With each phase there are stringent guidelines concerning cleaning, social distancing, and mask wearing for all participants. There is no definite timeline for some of these phases and it is dependent on city, state, and national guidelines, so stay tuned. And stay tuned for more information about how the English congregation will enter into these phases.
Phase 1: One congregation live streaming (praise leaders, sound techs, and pastor record the service live in the sanctuary during normal service time. No live audience). The Mandarin congregation has been in this stage since August.
Phase 2: All congregations live stream. Currently the Tiawanese congregation is considering entering this stage in mid September and the English congregation will tentatively begin live streaming on October 1st. Our service change would move to later in the afternoon to assure safety and ability to social distance after we proceed to phase 3 and beyond.
Phase 3: In person worship resumes in a limited fashion (possibly 25% of congregation size or another metric). The church opens for limited programs and events.
Phase 4: A greater number of people are allowed to attend Sunday worship gatherings and weekly events.
Phase 5: Back to open attendance and no limits at services and events at the church.
Until phase 3 the church is closed to any events except worship preparation in the sanctuary (with precautions and guidelines). In the coming weeks the English leadership will share more definite details. Please keep the church leadership and the congregation in prayer as we all seek to discern how to best love our neighbor, care for each other, and be wise, in this time.
