03/17/2020
“Greetings Church,
By now you have no doubt heard about the recommendations by the Center for Disease Control, as well as comments by President Trump, that our government is discouraging any gatherings larger than 10 people. This obviously puts our weekend gatherings into that category. Because of these new recommendations, we want to let you know about how we as a church will be handling what we offer weekly.
First and foremost, our weekend services will be put online at 10:00 am on Sunday morning. You will find that link on our website at fbhanford.org. With that being said, we will not be meeting in person. We would encourage you to watch with your family as we continue to figure out how to do church in a world where our elected officials have asked us to keep everyone safe by staying away from others. Beyond that, any ongoing meetings that were held at the church are being postponed, this includes Wednesday night dinners, children’s ministry, youth ministry, etc. Please understand, these are not easy decisions to make. Never once in my life have I shown up to a church and been turned away; it is always something I could rely on regardless of what was happening in the world.
I think back to my first Sunday at church after the events of 9/11/2001 and how when everything else was uncertain, the church stood tall and overflowing. This is a completely different situation and because of that, we need to think about what it means to stand tall in the face of today’s epidemic. How do we Love God, Love People, and Serve the World in times like these? The short answer is, we don’t have it all figured out and we will probably be pivoting daily, based on what our government is encouraging us to do.
But what we do know is this, the church in Acts 2 flourished in homes. Teachers were family members and respected people in one-another’s Oikos. We have an opportunity to experience the church the way it got started (with the addition of the internet), and beyond that we have an opportunity to see what it looks like to Serve the World when they are incredibly fearful.
So beyond moving Sunday morning to online, if you know someone who is not technologically savvy, we will also be creating DVD’s of the message that we will be distributing to those in the 65+ category. They will be left on their doorstep so we aren’t putting anyone at risk as we deliver those. We are still problem-solving the best way to help those with needs regarding childcare, and hopefully will have some answers to that in the coming days.
What we can start doing today is figuring out what resources we have at our disposal. So we have set up an online form that will help us navigate how to best serve our world. Please fill it out, and as needs become apparent, we will partner the resources with the needs.
Thank you for your continued support of FBH and your understanding as we do our best to navigate uncharted and choppy waters.
Sincerely, Pastor Peter”
https://fbhanford.churchcenter.com/people/forms/112988
This form is to help us coordinate needs during our current situation.
