03/14/2020
Services cancelled for Sunday, March 15
Dear Providence,
Like many of you, our leadership has been carefully monitoring the issues surrounding the Novel Coronavirus - COVID-19. We've been intentionally seeking current information and any updates from local health and government officials so that we as a church can respond accordingly. As followers of Jesus, we want to respond to this or any similar serious issue at the forefront of people’s minds with faith, hope, and love centered on Jesus Christ. When our faith is in Jesus, our fear is kept in check. When uncertainty drives the marketplace mad, we can rest in peace because Jesus is our hope. And because Jesus first loved us, we are driven by love for God and love for our neighbor. We want to consistently pray for our local, national, and world leaders, for healthcare professionals and those working to develop vaccines and treatments, and for those among us who are at greater risk or have been exposed to the virus.
It is, of course, very important to us to gather for worship, but we also want to be prudent in taking precautionary measures that are in line with the recommendations coming from the broader medical community. Because we do not have those in place for tomorrow, we have decided to cancel our services this week. We will also be cancelling the Wednesday night activities this coming week.
The elders will be meeting again this week to discuss how we can implement proper procedures for coming weeks and we are hoping, Lord willing, to be able to meet again as soon as possible. That decision, however, will also be contingent upon Beacon allowing us to continue to use their facility. We’ve learned that the public schools have cancelled the permits for churches meeting in their facilities for the next few weeks, and Beacon is still considering what steps they will take.
While we would love to meet tomorrow, we encourage you instead to take time for worship in your homes, use the extra time for prayer and remember the vulnerable. There are many options for live stream worship. Here are two from PCA churches in our area:
https://www.gracetoronto.ca/livestream
https://newcityhamilton.com/
In Christ,
The elders
