Announcements
On August 6th, 2020 / by Glen Elliott
Re-Gathering
You might be wondering when we will regather for physical services. Our staff is addressing that very question right now. I’ll share the details with you next week. There are lots of issues connected with such a decision. I want you to know the kinds of things we are considering to resume well. I know […]
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On August 6th, 2020 / by Glen Elliott | Subscribe
Re-Gathering
You might be wondering when we will regather for physical services. Our staff is addressing that very question right now. I’ll share the details with you next week. There are lots of issues connected with such a decision. I want you to know the kinds of things we are considering to resume well.
I know that several other churches have opened. I’ve talked to over 50 pastors in the Tucson and Phoenix areas as well as pastors around the country. Many churches have yet to resume and several well-known churches (Northpoint Community Church) in the country have announced they won’t regather until 2021. One thing we’ve learned is that churches regathering, on average, are seeing about 25% of their normal pre-COVID19 attendance. I fully understand that most folks are not ready to regather yet.
Here are some of the issues and questions we are considering:
- How do we balance the genuine need to gather with the need to be safe? Many of us truly miss meeting physically with each other. I do! And many are apprehensive about large gatherings indoors.
- In this new reality, will live worship be the great experience we had before? The new reality is that the room is three-quarters empty due to practicing physical distancing, fewer people willing to gather publically, and while wearing masks.
- How do we keep kids and students safe? There are extra challenges to keep them physically distanced, rooms sanitized, managing check-in, etc.
- Will we have enough volunteers willing to serve to be able to minister to our adults, kids and students? We can’t do what we do without our amazing volunteers. We also need time to train and retrain our staff and volunteers.
- Do I have the right staff now to be able to regather? This summer we lost our Children’s Pastor and we are searching now. That role is vital for a successful regathering.
- Is this the right time to refocus our staff time and energy on regathering? What you likely don’t know is that I’ve used this COVID-19 season to lead our staff through some major rethinking about how we engage more of our church. We have to find a way to help all of us reach lost people, be discipled and disciple others and expand our service to our neighborhoods and community. I’ve been especially burdened by how difficult in this COVID-19 season it has been to reach people not connected to God or a church. Even before COVID-19, it was hard to get folks engaged, but engagement is vital. We need to make some major changes in our strategy, programming (even when we physically regather), as well as the staffing and resources needed to make it happen. Do I want to divert our energy and focus on this back to having physical services right now? Yes, we need to meet. The question is when is best.
The list of questions is longer than this, but I won’t bore you with the details! I deeply appreciate your prayers for me, our staff, and our elders. Thank you to those who’ve sent cards of encouragement. These are hard times to live. These are hard times to lead! But we are still the church and I’m confident we will come through this season better prepared to be a better church tomorrow. I’ll update you next week with more of when we’ll regather and how.
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On May 25th, 2022 / by Glen Elliott
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On May 18th, 2022 / by Glen Elliott
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On April 27th, 2022 / by Glen Elliott
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