Established in 1888, First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has been a vital part of the city of Goodland for over 130 years. We are a part of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), "a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. As part of the one body of Christ, we welcome all to the Lord's Table as God has welcomed us." (Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Statement of Identity)
|
|
Pastoral Letter Concerning Reopening the Church on June 7, 2020
June 1, 2020
Greetings in Christ!
Since March 22, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been worshiping while apart. Originally the elders, along with Lois Cossman and myself, made the decision that we would begin opening the sanctuary for worship when Phase 3 of the Ad Astra: A Plan to Reopen Kansas went into effect. At the earliest that meant June 7, and when Governor Kelly added Phase 1.5, that pushed the date back to June 14. On May 26, following the actions of the legislature on May 21, Governor Kelly suspended the Ad Astra Plan and turned the opening of businesses over to the counties. On May 27, the Sherman County Health Department lifted all restrictions for Sherman County. We as the elders, board chair, and minister, had planned to meet on Sunday, May 31, to discuss the reopening of the sanctuary for worship, which we have done.
Following a lengthy discussion, it was decided that we will be opening the sanctuary for in-person worship on June 7. As I write this, it should also be noted that even as we open for in-person worship, because the COVID-19 virus is still a very real danger, there will be changes to the order of worship to accommodate this reality, along with continued restrictions on the use of the church building for other in-person activities. The bulk of this letter will be explaining those changes and restrictions.
The first thing I want to cover is what time the church will open and how we will enter the church. Because we are doing worship only and are not having fellowship time before worship, the church will open at 10:15. To control access to the building and to minimize the necessity of extra cleaning, entrance to the building will be the east doors only. As we exit the sanctuary, again it will be by the east doors only. Another recommendation is that those in attendance should be wearing a cloth mask. We are not going to require that people wear a mask, but they have been shown to mitigate the spread of the virus. When I am not speaking, I will be wearing a mask.
As you enter the sanctuary, you will see blue tape on the pews, with the “X’s” indicating the six-foot spacing. These are markings showing what spacing ourselves 6 feet apart looks like. As we come together in the sanctuary, we are asking that we observe social distancing. This is going to limit the amount of seating available in the sanctuary. Therefore, there will be additional seating set up in fellowship hall.
Moving on to the service itself. Following the recommendations from the CDC and other medical professionals, during this time of the pandemic, there have been changes to the service. One of the first changes you notice is that I will be leading the worship service. This is to prevent the spread of droplets that might contain the virus on either the pulpit or the microphone. A second noticeable change is that there will be no greeting time. Again, this is per CDC guidelines to prevent the possible spread of the coronavirus.
Another change to the service is there will be less singing during the service. There will be no gathering song, no hymn of invitation, and no recessional song. The reason for this is that it has been shown that singing can propel droplets that could contain the virus much faster and much farther than speaking or just normal breathing. There have been recommendations to have little or no singing. Because we are currently at a low risk for contracting the coronavirus, this recommendation of no music does not seem to fit our situation. With that said, we are still following the recommendations by singing fewer songs during the service.
During the service, we will continue to have a time for our children. Again, to maintain social distancing, we are having the children remain in their seats while the children’s message is being shared. Also, there will be no snacks shared during the service.
A major recommendation from the CDC is that objects such as offering plates and communion trays not be passed during the service. This is leading to two of the biggest changes to the worship service. First, for offering, two offering plates will be placed at the back of the sanctuary so that people may place their tithes and offerings in the plates either as they come into or as they are leaving the sanctuary.
The second major change concerns communion. Borrowing from our Catholic brothers and sisters, the very last act of the service will be communion. The communion service will flow much like it has in the past, but after the Lord’s Prayer, I will be sharing a closing blessing and invite the members of the congregation to come forward by row to share communion. We are asking that people come forward by the outside aisles, maintaining a distance of six feet while they are standing in line. There will be colored dots on the carpet to mark the six-foot distance. We will share communion by using an all in one communion cup. The top layer of the cup contains the bread. Removing the second layer gets to the juice. We will make accommodations for those who have difficulty removing the seals on the cups. Each person will take their own cup and after partaking of communion, throw the cup and the seals in a trash can that will be provided. After throwing away the trash, people will exit by the center aisle and exit the church by the east doors.
There were other issues addressed by the elders on Sunday night. As I mentioned before, there will be no fellowship time during the month of June. Also, during the month of June there will be no other groups using the church. This means no sewing, exercise, book studies, Sunday school, or other groups. These two actions will be looked at again as we approach July. The elders have also recommended that there be no fellowship dinners until September.
Once again, I know there is a great deal of information contained in this letter. These are strange times we live in and though we live in a county that is at low risk for COVID-19, as we have seen by the statistics, we are not at no risk. Therefore, we as the elders, board chair, and minister are working to make the best decisions we can for the safety and the fellowship of our congregation. We know that our congregation has a number of members who are considered high risk. We do not want to discourage you from attending church if you feel you need to be present, but our recommendation is that if you do not feel comfortable being in church, please stay at home. Yes, we are restarting in-person worship, but we are also continuing our online worship as well. As I have done for the past three months, I will be sending the worship information on Saturday night, so that you will have that information while you worship with us at home. Also, if you do come to church and feel you need a bulletin, you can print off the order of worship sheet to bring with you. The reason for this is that we will not be printing bulletins.
We thank you for your patience and understanding. All of this is a work in progress. In the coming weeks and months, I am sure that we are going to have to tweak and sometimes completely revamp what we are doing. I can speak for no one but myself, but I know as we go through this and the decisions we have made and will make, I have one goal in mind: to remember Paul’s admonition found in Romans 13:10, “Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
I know this letter may not answer all of your questions. Please feel free to reach out to me and I will do my best to answer your questions. Until then, be safe and continue to wash your hands. And, as always, PEACE!
Doug
Greetings in Christ!
Since March 22, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been worshiping while apart. Originally the elders, along with Lois Cossman and myself, made the decision that we would begin opening the sanctuary for worship when Phase 3 of the Ad Astra: A Plan to Reopen Kansas went into effect. At the earliest that meant June 7, and when Governor Kelly added Phase 1.5, that pushed the date back to June 14. On May 26, following the actions of the legislature on May 21, Governor Kelly suspended the Ad Astra Plan and turned the opening of businesses over to the counties. On May 27, the Sherman County Health Department lifted all restrictions for Sherman County. We as the elders, board chair, and minister, had planned to meet on Sunday, May 31, to discuss the reopening of the sanctuary for worship, which we have done.
Following a lengthy discussion, it was decided that we will be opening the sanctuary for in-person worship on June 7. As I write this, it should also be noted that even as we open for in-person worship, because the COVID-19 virus is still a very real danger, there will be changes to the order of worship to accommodate this reality, along with continued restrictions on the use of the church building for other in-person activities. The bulk of this letter will be explaining those changes and restrictions.
The first thing I want to cover is what time the church will open and how we will enter the church. Because we are doing worship only and are not having fellowship time before worship, the church will open at 10:15. To control access to the building and to minimize the necessity of extra cleaning, entrance to the building will be the east doors only. As we exit the sanctuary, again it will be by the east doors only. Another recommendation is that those in attendance should be wearing a cloth mask. We are not going to require that people wear a mask, but they have been shown to mitigate the spread of the virus. When I am not speaking, I will be wearing a mask.
As you enter the sanctuary, you will see blue tape on the pews, with the “X’s” indicating the six-foot spacing. These are markings showing what spacing ourselves 6 feet apart looks like. As we come together in the sanctuary, we are asking that we observe social distancing. This is going to limit the amount of seating available in the sanctuary. Therefore, there will be additional seating set up in fellowship hall.
Moving on to the service itself. Following the recommendations from the CDC and other medical professionals, during this time of the pandemic, there have been changes to the service. One of the first changes you notice is that I will be leading the worship service. This is to prevent the spread of droplets that might contain the virus on either the pulpit or the microphone. A second noticeable change is that there will be no greeting time. Again, this is per CDC guidelines to prevent the possible spread of the coronavirus.
Another change to the service is there will be less singing during the service. There will be no gathering song, no hymn of invitation, and no recessional song. The reason for this is that it has been shown that singing can propel droplets that could contain the virus much faster and much farther than speaking or just normal breathing. There have been recommendations to have little or no singing. Because we are currently at a low risk for contracting the coronavirus, this recommendation of no music does not seem to fit our situation. With that said, we are still following the recommendations by singing fewer songs during the service.
During the service, we will continue to have a time for our children. Again, to maintain social distancing, we are having the children remain in their seats while the children’s message is being shared. Also, there will be no snacks shared during the service.
A major recommendation from the CDC is that objects such as offering plates and communion trays not be passed during the service. This is leading to two of the biggest changes to the worship service. First, for offering, two offering plates will be placed at the back of the sanctuary so that people may place their tithes and offerings in the plates either as they come into or as they are leaving the sanctuary.
The second major change concerns communion. Borrowing from our Catholic brothers and sisters, the very last act of the service will be communion. The communion service will flow much like it has in the past, but after the Lord’s Prayer, I will be sharing a closing blessing and invite the members of the congregation to come forward by row to share communion. We are asking that people come forward by the outside aisles, maintaining a distance of six feet while they are standing in line. There will be colored dots on the carpet to mark the six-foot distance. We will share communion by using an all in one communion cup. The top layer of the cup contains the bread. Removing the second layer gets to the juice. We will make accommodations for those who have difficulty removing the seals on the cups. Each person will take their own cup and after partaking of communion, throw the cup and the seals in a trash can that will be provided. After throwing away the trash, people will exit by the center aisle and exit the church by the east doors.
There were other issues addressed by the elders on Sunday night. As I mentioned before, there will be no fellowship time during the month of June. Also, during the month of June there will be no other groups using the church. This means no sewing, exercise, book studies, Sunday school, or other groups. These two actions will be looked at again as we approach July. The elders have also recommended that there be no fellowship dinners until September.
Once again, I know there is a great deal of information contained in this letter. These are strange times we live in and though we live in a county that is at low risk for COVID-19, as we have seen by the statistics, we are not at no risk. Therefore, we as the elders, board chair, and minister are working to make the best decisions we can for the safety and the fellowship of our congregation. We know that our congregation has a number of members who are considered high risk. We do not want to discourage you from attending church if you feel you need to be present, but our recommendation is that if you do not feel comfortable being in church, please stay at home. Yes, we are restarting in-person worship, but we are also continuing our online worship as well. As I have done for the past three months, I will be sending the worship information on Saturday night, so that you will have that information while you worship with us at home. Also, if you do come to church and feel you need a bulletin, you can print off the order of worship sheet to bring with you. The reason for this is that we will not be printing bulletins.
We thank you for your patience and understanding. All of this is a work in progress. In the coming weeks and months, I am sure that we are going to have to tweak and sometimes completely revamp what we are doing. I can speak for no one but myself, but I know as we go through this and the decisions we have made and will make, I have one goal in mind: to remember Paul’s admonition found in Romans 13:10, “Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
I know this letter may not answer all of your questions. Please feel free to reach out to me and I will do my best to answer your questions. Until then, be safe and continue to wash your hands. And, as always, PEACE!
Doug
|
|
|
Worship and Fellowship Times Sunday Morning 9:00 a.m. Friendship Class (Adult) 9:15 a.m. Boat Class (Adult) 10:00 a.m. Fellowship Time 10:30 a.m. Worship Wednesday Evening Disciple Zone 2.0 5:45 p.m. Meal 6:15 p.m. Classes Disciple Zone 2.0 is for children 4 years-old through high school. There are also adult studies: The Book Study is The Jesus I Never Knew and the Women's Study is For Women Only. We hope to see you there! |
|
Children's Christmas Program
|
CWF Delivering Lap Quilts
|
|
|
|
May 3 - 5, 2018
|
May 6, 2018
|
|
|
|
|
We are located at 711 Arcade, at the corner of 8th and Arcade.
Our phone number is (785) 890-5233. Our church e-mail address is fccdoc@st-tel.net The office is open from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Monday thru Friday |