IN PERSON WORSHIP GUIDELINES FEBRUARY 8, 2022
Beginning February 20th our worship schedule will include the option of In Person Worship in the sanctuary at 10:00 AM in addition to our virtual services through Facebook Live and On Demand. If you’re not comfortable being indoors or with a large group, we understand. Please choose the worship experience that works best for you and your family.
Please read carefully…
Before You Attend
Please consider guidance from the CDC to mitigate your risk in making your decision whether to attend in-person services. Please be guided by having each member of your family respond to the following questions…
- Have you experienced possible COVID symptoms in the last 14 days? These include fever, chills, a new cough, difficulty breathing, a new sore throat, new muscle aches, a new headache, or new loss of smell or taste.
- Have you had close contact with or cared for someone diagnosed with COVID-19 in the last 14 days or are currently waiting for test results?
If you answer yes to any of these questions, you will need to stay home, and we invite you to worship online.
What to Expect
Worship in the sanctuary will include scripture, sermon, prayer and music, but it will look different for a while and some details may change from week to week as we learn from our experience.
MASKS WILL BE REQUIRED.
Worship will be a ‘no-contact’ experience.
- Sign in for tracking
- No Congregational Singing
- We will have modified communion in worship in the sanctuary at this time including prepackaged wafers and juice.
When You Arrive
Worship begins at 10 AM. Plan to arrive in the parking lot between 9:45 AM and 9:55 AM to give everyone a chance to check in.
Check in with a greeter at the front door. They will ask you to put on your required face covering.
All attendees are encouraged to wash or sanitize your hands when you enter the building (and again when you leave the building). Hand sanitizers are available on the counter in the Narthex next to the door.
Inside the Narthex
Please maintain a 6 feet distance between your household and other households.
At the End of the Worship Service
Following the worship service, you are requested to leave the building. As you leave worship, please maintain physical distancing, sanitize your hands and keep your face covering in place. There will be no indoor fellowship time. You are invited to meet and greet one another outdoors.
F A Q
What About My Children?
Nursery and FUN-Day School will be available. Children over the age of 2 must remain masked while in the building. Those working in nursery care and with our children in FUN-Day School have been through the Safe Sanctuary training and have also been asked to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination.
Plan to keep your FUN-Day School aged children with you in the sanctuary for the children’s message. The children will be dismissed to the classroom after the children’s message.
How Do These Guidelines Relate to Our Faith?
We can consider our faith as both a vertical and horizontal relationship. The vertical relationship is our relationship with God and the horizontal is our relationship with each other. Our faith is very much about our relationship with God. But as Jesus said, it’s just as much about our relationship with each other. So our desire to follow these guidelines is for the sake of people we care for, looking out for the good of all the COA family, and in particular children under five who are not yet able to receive the COVID vaccine. We all have choices to make but each one of us wants to do our best to keep other people safe and healthy, and that’s why we’re following the guidelines.