June

06/06/20 12:14

We started church services in the building again. About half our regulars come to the building and the other half come on Zoom. We have three songs as videos or piano with the words to hum along with; the government does not want singing in churches right now.
After the songs others can log in with Zoom and they can see us and we can see them (using a projector). We have a sharing and prayer time and communion all together as a church. I have now started preaching again and so sometimes the Zoom people can watch the sermon but it has not always worked.
Afterwards we used to have coffee, tea and cookies but now we are supposed to leave the building and break up the party. Even without the coffee and tea people stand around in the front court yard and talk. You can see what an important role the church plays for healthy and needed social contact.

So what do our services look like? People come in with masks. When they get to their seats they can take their masks off. We have the doors propped open so no one has to touch the handles. We also have a disinfectant dispenser at the door.
We have chairs grouped for singles, couples, or families. The groups are 1.5 meter (5 feet) apart. With the distancing we can have a maximum of 22 in the building.
Each group has a little stand/table with the communion for that group. That way no one has to move to pass communion or to stand up to receive it. Communion is prepared in advance by someone with mask.

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We have one camera on the pulpit and one camera facing the congregation. That way the people on Zoom can also hear and see all/most of the people in the building.
There is Sunday School during the sermon but right now only one family is attending at the building so that is not a problem. The mother is doing the teaching.
We continue to take turns leading the service, communion meditation, and sermon. When someone moves from his/her seat the mask is put on. At the pulpit no mask is worn but the pulpit is more than 2 meters (over 6 feet) from the first seating. 7CE92C2E-48E5-42A6-8A48-97B45372C9EC_1_105_c

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We leave all the windows open for the entire service. When it rains or gets colder we will have to start airing with all windows open every 30-45 minutes. The windows will then have to open for at least 10 minutes.
Another requirement for us to open back up was to have a hygiene plan printed out and hung for all to see.

The Church in the Corona Era

Dealing with the times we live in

June