No In-Person Gatherings Until 2021
Hey church!
Yup, you read that correctly. We will *not* be gathering in-person for the remainder of 2020. By God’s grace, we hope to reconvene once again on the first Sunday in 2021.
Here’s why.
We’ve been keeping a close eye on the spread and local responses to COVID all year, with a particular watchfulness recently given the uptick of cases in Ohio *and* all of the end-of-year holiday festivities. Thankfully, positive cases have been few and far between within our church family most of 2020. And in part, we have all of you to thank for that! If it weren’t for the respect, thoughtfulness, and wisdom so many of you have demonstrated this year, we likely would have been impacted in a greater way. However, it now *has* started hitting closer to home.
COVID has worked its way into at least five Village households over the last couple of weeks. And while those folks were and are taking all of the necessary precautions to keep themselves and everyone else safe, the asymptomatic spread of the virus means that being *reactive* in a community of people is not nearly as helpful as being *proactive.* So in order to keep The Village from being a contributing factor to the spread of COVID inside and outside the church, we’re foregoing in-person gatherings the rest of the year.
Here’s the plan.
This Sunday, December 13, The Point Community Church in Frankfort, KY, will be welcoming Villagers to their livestream. You might recall that Pastor Michael preached at The Point this past weekend, and Pastor Andy Lawrence from The Point was planning to preach at The 210 next weekend. Since we weren’t preparing for a virtual-only gathering until today *and* since Pastor Andy is preaching the Royal Psalm this week that he was also going to preach for us next week, it makes perfect sense for The Village to tune in there on Sunday.
Keep tabs on Realm and our website where we will send out links, details, and the like for how to watch The Point this weekend.
Next Sunday, December 20, our plans are up in the air. We will *not* be gathering in-person, but we’ll have to take stock of who’s healthy, who’s available, and what we can pull together virtually to serve you best. TBD.
On Wednesday, December 23, we will *not* be having a Christmas Eve Eve Gathering. Given the current situation described above, it would seem unwise to host a gathering that’s usually a larger and more diverse mix of people right before many of us may be seeing extended family and friends.
And as for Sunday, December 27th, we were already planning to *not* gather this Sunday, as is our tradition the weekend between Christmas and New Year’s. So, this Sunday is actually unaffected!
Here’s our heart.
Biblically, you’re not a soul trapped in a body. Nor are you a body who just so happens to have a soul. God made us body *and* soul. Because of this, we care about both the physical health and spiritual health of the whole church (and the mental, emotional, relational kinds of health that overlap them!). Pastoring through a pandemic has meant balancing both of those things with greater attention. And even though they often seem to live *in tension* with each other, they don’t have to.
In hearing that we’re not going to be gathering in-person, some of you may be disappointed or frustrated. Others might feel relieved and cared for. We understand both. Know that just as we’re not downplaying either aspect of your health over the other, we’re also not downplaying one “group” or “school of thought” in the church over another. We’re not leading from a place of tension, but rather with an *attention* to the whole body, not just part of it. This decision - just like the original decision to go virtual in March and the decision to open back up for in-person gatherings in July - is made with a desire to be above reproach in the way we’re loving and leading *this* local church. And the decision to reopen again (hopefully in January!) will be made from the same posture of heart.
Don’t check out this month. Rather, check *in* on one another. If you’re prone to seeing, feeling, and living out of tension, let the Spirit show you what you’re really paying attention to - and let him *draw* your attention all the more to Jesus. Celebrate Christ. Consider what Advent might look like in your home. Encourage your teams, groups, and those on the fringes. Join the livestreams. Read Scripture. Pray. Live as disciples.
We love you all and will keep you posted!