| Grace and peace friends,
We are excited to be having in-person worship inside our sanctuary again this coming Sunday, October 25th! To help us keep our covenant with our guiding principle of “loving our neighbor” and “doing no harm,” Central’s Administrative Council Task Force worked with the guidance provided from our Conference, the State, and the CDC to create safety protocols for us to be able to worship in our beautiful sanctuary. This document is intended to help us all learn this new rhythm of worship to help keep everyone healthy!
As this is a still a new process for everyone, when coming to church on Sundays you will want to give yourself extra time to get checked in and seated before the worship service.
Registering for Worship – Everyone will need to register for Sunday worship. This is to ensure we are able to contact everyone in attendance if someone should get sick. We will have a registration sign up link on our website, as well as sent out in the church email (scroll to the bottom of this page for the link), or you can call the church office before Friday to register over the phone for the coming Sunday’s service. If you do not pre-register before Sunday, you can still register in-person the morning of the service at the registration tent.
Check In – Once you arrive, you will see two check in tents clearly marked in front of the sanctuary, one for folks who have pre-registered and one for folks who have not pre-registered, head to the appropriate tent to check in. Please remember to keep social distancing when walking up to the check in area. We will have ushers/greeters that will be easy to identify in the parking lot in case you need direction or assistance.
*At the appropriate registration tent a greeter will ask your name, take your temperature, and ask if you have any COVID symptoms. Once that is complete an usher will direct you in to the sanctuary.
Masks – Face masks covering your nose and mouth are required for the duration of your time on Central’s campus. We are sure no one wakes up every morning and says, “I hope I get to wear a mask today!” None of us like wearing one, but we are trying to protect the people we love. If you do not have a mask, our ushers will happily provide one for you when you arrive on Sunday. **If you chose not to wear a mask, we invite you to join us from the comfort of your home via our online worship service at 11am or you may stay in your car in Central’s parking lot on Sunday morning and listen to the service on our FM broadcast on channel 87.9.
Accessing the Building – On Sundays, the only doors that will be open in the church will be the front doors of the sanctuary and the wheelchair accessible side of the sanctuary, this is to help us safely manage sanitizing the building and help our ushers/greeters with traffic flow as folks are coming in the sanctuary.
Social Distancing and Seating – We will have signage to show how to enter and exit the sanctuary and ushers to assist with seating you in the sanctuary. Please note, overall capacity in the sanctuary is limited to 90 people due to Conference and State guidelines. We strongly encourage you to pre-register to ensure a spot in the sanctuary as any over flow will be seated in Central Hall. The pews are blocked off every other pew and are marked to designate seating that is 6 feet apart. Families or couples will be able to sit together in a marked space, socially distant from the people next to them. We know some folks have a favorite spot or area in the sanctuary they prefer to sit and appreciate their flexibility to sit where the ushers place them during this time. We encourage everyone to remain in their seat for the duration of the service and only get up if it is imperative.
During the Service – To reduce the transmission of germs during the service all pew bibles, hymnals, and connect cards have been removed from the sanctuary and there will be no bulletins, or congregational singing.
Offering – For those of you who want to bring your offering instead of giving online or mailing a check, a collection box will be available for you to place your offering in the box as you enter the sanctuary. Do not worry if you forget to put your offering in the collection box on the way in, there will be another collection box by the exit door on your way out!
Worshiping God in our beautiful sanctuary is always a special time and we are so glad to be together again! We appreciate all the efforts of our Administrative Council Task Force, volunteers, and staff working together to incorporate these new safety protocols into our worship space and we appreciate you joining us in our covenant to “love our neighbor” and “do no harm” as we gather together again! Please feel free to call the church office with any questions. May Christ be with us as we continue to fulfill our mission to CONNECT WITH GOD, CONNECT WITH EACH OTHER, and CONNECT WITH THE COMMUNITY!
Weekly worship service 11:00 am each Sunday morning will be live-streamed on Facebook and our website during the Corona Virus Pandemic.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Sigrid
On behalf of the Administrative Council Task Force |
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