Coronavirus Updates

Phase 2 Regathering Plan

Hello church family. The past few months have been some of the most challenging but also encouraging many of us have ever faced. We have been challenged by difficulties, but we have also been encouraged by God’s faithfulness in the midst of those challenges. When the elders at Grace made the decision to suspend in-person worship gatherings, we did so for three primary reasons:
1.  Our witness to a watching world. Whether we agreed or disagreed about the danger of COVID-19, it was clear that our culture would have seen a church continuing to meet during the crisis as “unloving” and callous to our neighbors and city. While there are some hills we must choose to die on...those that our culture often sees in a radically different way than the church, this was not one of those. For us to continue to meet when others were closing would have put up an unnecessary obstacle to the gospel, and to the message that Jesus loves our city and so do we.
2.  Loving the vulnerable. Again, whether we agree or disagree with the level of danger COVID-19 might present, the predominant view of those in the medical field was that this disease would be deadly to some, especially to the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. We felt that the most loving thing to do for the vulnerable was to sacrifice for them in the name of love.
3.  Respect for our leaders. There are many times we will disagree with the leaders over us, but Romans 13 makes it very clear that as followers of Jesus Christ we must do all we can to humbly submit to our leaders, and in doing so we are ultimately submitting ourselves to the sovereign hand of the Lord. There are exceptions to this submission, but the current situation did not seem to warrant a refusal to obey our leaders, especially when the church was not being singled out and was being asked to obey out of love and the protection of others.
Right or wrong, these are the reasons our elders made the decisions that they did during this season, and these are still the reasons we are considering as we now move forward into in-person gatherings at Grace. With Deschutes County officially moving into Phase 2, we can now begin to meet again in person in a way that maintains our witness, shows love for our vulnerable, and gives respect to our leaders. We are very excited to begin in-person gatherings again!
 
For those who are not yet ready to meet in person, we respect that decision, and we will continue to live-stream our services and minister to everyone in our church, whether they are physically present with us or not. We encourage each person to assess the risks of in-person gatherings, and to make decisions based on their conscience and individual circumstances. We would remind those in “high risk” categories that both our state and national leaders would recommend that you do not attend large gatherings, but we want each person to make the best decision for themselves. For the recommendations of the CDC visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html. For information regarding the state’s guidelines, you can visit https://govstatus.egov.com/or-covid-19/.
 
The church will be doing all it can to help minimize the transmission of COVID-19, and we have gone to great lengths to follow appropriate guidelines concerning cleaning and disinfecting. We want to open in the safest way possible out of love for our neighbors and friends and out of respect for our leaders.

What will it look like for us to open in Phase 2?

Sunday worship

Phase 2 allows us to open for in-person gatherings of up to 250 as long as social distancing can be maintained with appropriate square footage. The guidelines for that are 35sqft per person. For us, that would mean indoor gatherings or 125 in our main worship center, but thankfully we have been blessed with a large outdoor space that will allow us to hold the max of 250 and still maintain social distancing between families. So beginning on June 14th, we will be holding two in-person outdoor worship gatherings at 9am & 11am. Please plan accordingly for an outdoor service and bring chairs, water, and shade if you need it. To make sure we do not exceed the limit of 250 per service, we need everyone to pre-register each week, and you can find that simple reservation form right here.
Due to the current restrictions, there will be no children’s classes or nursery for the time being, and our services will be family based for now. We hope that as more guidelines are developed and current guidelines are relaxed that we can begin Grace Kids once again. To help accommodate families, we will be shortening the length of our service to one hour and providing some resources for parents. We would encourage all parents to plan accordingly, and to bring things for your children to do quietly if they are unable to follow along with the service. While things will look different for a time, we are thankful that we get to start meeting in person and that we can see one another’s faces again soon! We will also be taking communion together again, and will be doing all that we can to ensure that the elements are as safe as possible.

Community Groups

Our community groups have been encouraged to assess what is best for the members of their group and to make decisions accordingly. For many of our groups that means they will begin to meet in person together again soon if they have not already. Others are continuing to meet online and caring for each other in that way. Please check with your community group leader to find out how their group is deciding to proceed, and if you are not yet part of a group, please reach out to [email protected] to get connected. For those who are looking for a group that will continue to meet via Zoom, we would be happy to connect you to one.

Student ministries

With the guidelines of Phase 2, Student Ministries is able to start meeting again starting June 10th.  They will meet outside on the field on Wednesdays from 6:30-8:30pm.  Please contact [email protected] if you have questions regarding Student Ministries.

Grace kids

Due to the current restrictions and guidelines there will be no Grace Kids classes for the immediate future. We are hopeful that these restrictions will be changing soon, and we continue to monitor the situation and will give updates as we have them. For now, we will continue to support and encourage parents in the discipleship of their children in any ways we can.
I realize that the situation we are in is less than ideal for everyone and not what any of us would desire, but I am thankful for the attitude our church has displayed through this difficulty, with trust in the Lord and love for one another. The reality is, the church has never been closed. We have been temporarily displaced and inconvenienced, but the mission and ministry of the church has never stopped and will never stop. I hope you will join us for in-person worship gatherings as soon as you feel comfortable, and know that we continue to pray for all of you as we hope you pray for us as well.
 
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to one of the elders or staff at Grace.
 
Phil (for the elders)