Dear church,
Earlier this week, the governor of Washington moved the entire state to Phase-3 of Covid-19. The major changes are that congregations are now free to sing, we can go up to 50% seating capacity with distancing, though up to 15 persons could be seated together. Face coverings are still required. The updated regulations that apply to church services are available here.
This is very encouraging and timely as we approach the Holy Week. We praise God for it! For us this means that we can incrementally increase the seating in the sanctuary while still leaving room for distancing. As officers, we think we can comfortably accommodate 20-30 more people starting this Sunday and assess the numbers moving forward. Please note:
- Check-in procedure remains unchanged
- Every other pew will still be used for seating
- Extra bulletins will be placed on the pews being used
- Cleaning pews between services will still occur
- Two deacons will be in the sanctuary to answer questions or help you find seating
- Two families are free to sit together. (I’d encourage this if you are comfortable doing so and can find a mutually agreeable family to sit with. This will help deacons seat latecomers.)
- The 9am service has typically been full compared to the 11am service which is usually at 80% of signup limit. So you are free to choose the second service if you prefer to have more space.
In all this our intention has been to provide a safe and welcoming environment for you to worship the Lord with a clear conscience and with your whole heart. We realize that in the coming months we are going to be in a fluid situation on these things. We hope to learn and tweak things as we go. (Yes – no school trained us for this!) We very much appreciate the patience and cooperation you have shown so far. Feel free to reach out to your shepherding group officers or one of the pastors if you have questions or suggestions. Thank you, dear deacons, for all your diligent efforts throughout this time!
As the officers of CPC, we thank our God for his care and protection over our church during this pandemic. We’ve had less than a handful of known cases in our church body, and to our knowledge, no one has contracted it during worship or other church gatherings. Praise the Lord!
I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
– Psalm 91:2-3
Pastor Shiv
PS: Come and Worship!