Session Update
Next Steps in Reopening Eastbridge for Services and Activities - 10/15/20
Sunday Worship
Sunday morning worship services will be held with the following precautions:
Congregants of all ages are free to participate as they feel comfortable. If you have any symptoms or have been exposed or had close contact to anyone diagnosed with Covid-19, we ask that you refrain from coming to worship (self-quarantine) for at least 14 days after your last contact per CDC guidelines. If you have any of the preconditions that make you at risk of contracting Covid-19 we ask that you use
your best judgment in coming to worship.
All attendees are asked to wear masks.
The sanctuary will be cleaned (disinfected) prior to each worship service.
We ask that congregants maintain social distancing to the extent possible.
We will execute a method for minimizing risk on the distribution of the Lord's Supper elements during a monthly celebration of the Lord's table.
At the conclusion of the service, the congregation will be dismissed in a sequenced manner to prevent congestion in the Narthex by the ushers. Congregants are welcome to socialize in the parking lot after the service.
We will continue to monitor attendance levels and may take additional actions as necessary to ensure the health and safety of our congregants.
Resume audio only recording and distribution of the Sunday sermon. In other words the online service and sermon will not be uploaded, but the audio sermon podcast will be uploaded as we did before the pandemic.
Sunday School
Sunday School will be held with the following precautions:
That Sunday school be offered on a signup basis so that class size can be controlled per social distancing guidelines.
We ask that Sunday school teachers organize and publish a list of classes/dates to be offered so that congregants may sign up. Depending on the response, Sunday School teachers will be required to coordinate with one another regarding their meeting venue and child-care requirements in order to maintain social distancing requirements. Depending on the response, some Sunday school classes may need to meet virtually prior to worship service on Sunday morning.
The same precautions outlined for worship services should be observed in the Sunday school classes.
For Sunday school classes meeting onsite, each class is responsible to clean their room upon completion of their meeting. Disinfecting wipes and towels will be provided in each classroom.
Small Groups (Including Men’s & Women’s Studies, Session, Deacons, Prayer Groups, Committees, etc.)
Small Groups and Bible study activities may reconvene by following the same precautions outlined for Sunday School.
Church Reopening Plans
Dear Eastbridge Family,
Words cannot fully express how much we have missed being able to worship together! Though we are thankful for the electronic connection options we have been able to deploy – we long to be face to face again.
The reopening of Eastbridge will occur in a staged manner. Our aim is to ensure that we provide a reopening of church activities that protects those who are more susceptible to serious effects from the virus. That is the reason for a phased opening. This will allow those who are able to physically attend the service to be able to do so, but it also allows those who are not ready to physically attend to participate in the service from home while it is happening as explained below. We value all who are worshiping with us, no matter how they decide to be with us. We are currently projecting normal services to begin on June 21. Even on that date we will be providing for social distancing guidelines such as seating arranged for maintaining safe distance standards. Initially there will be no Sunday School, nursery or children’s church. There will be heightened cleaning of the facility before and after services. The services will be shortened. Fellowship before and after the services will be encouraged outside the building in the parking lot and other outside locations.
Starting on May 31 a service with limited numbers in attendance will be “live streamed” on our YouTube channel. This means that you will be able to see the service online while it is happening in real time. A link to the livestream will be available on our homepage and the service will be available thereafter should you not be able to view it as it is happening.
Though staff members are in and out of the building each week, normal office hours open to the public are not currently planned to resume until around mid-June. In the meantime, we continue to urge you to reach out to your elders, pastors or other ministry leaders as you see fit. We are all available and desire to help and be a part of your lives in every way we can.
As our plans unfold or change, we will keep you apprised. As you can imagine this is a dynamic situation that is changing rapidly. We will keep pace with those changes and adjust accordingly but always we’ll keep you in the loop. The health and safety of you all, our dear Eastbridge congregation, will continue to be as our highest priority.
We love you very much!
The Session and Pastors of Eastbridge
The Latest Church News
Dear Eastbridge Congregation
Following the best advice of the national, state and local authorities, and driven by a desire to love our congregation and neighbors well and prevent the further spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) the session unanimously decided on March 16 to suspend all church gatherings, including worship, until further notice and move the Sunday worship service online.
Romans 13 urges Christians to be good citizens in complying with governmental authorities, but of course there are limits to that. For example, some might be wondering: Because the public assembly of the people of God is extremely important [see the Sabbath commandment, Exodus 20:8 and Hebrews 10:25] why are we suspending corporate worship? First, a historical precedent can be helpful to set the context of the current situation. In October of 1918 due to the Spanish Influenza pandemic all churches in the Washington, D.C. area agreed to the temporary suspension of all services. This was during a period in American history when virtually all Christians held to higher views on the application of the sabbath commandment than is generally acknowledged and practiced today. Secondly, in our own history we have another precedent that, though similar, is not exactly the same kind of situation. On a few occasions, services have been suspended due to hurricanes. It can be argued that it was virtually impossible for folks to attend services or it was dangerous then for folks to attend services. Our current situation differs in that the storm is of longer duration and its dangers are more difficult to evaluate, but the principle and the application is still very similar. If the civil authorities were suggesting or ordering a long-term or permanent suspension of our worship services or church meetings, we would refuse to comply. However, in an emergency such as a pandemic another body of Biblical instruction applies. The Law of love urges us to wisely and diligently do all that we can to preserve life. Jesus exegeted and applied the law of love in such a way that it eclipsed the Law of the Sabbath when they came in conflict (Matthew 12:9-14; Luke 13:10-17). These Biblical principles must be very judiciously applied. Your session is seeking to do that in our responses to our situation. Please pray for us to this end.
In the meantime, the church will keep the usual office hours. If that changes, we will inform you as quickly as possible.
Sermons, orders of worship and a way to access online versions of the worship music, where possible, will be posted on our church website. We encourage you on Lord’s Day mornings to individually and as a family gather around these resources and have a time of worship with the knowledge that your fellow brothers and sisters at Eastbridge are also engaging the same thoughts, praises and prayers.
Here are the instructions for accessing these resources. Go to the Eastbridge website (www.eastbridge.org). Scroll to the bottom of the home page and just below the words, “How do I get connected” click the link called, “Worship Resources”. This will take you to a page with links to sermon videos, a bulletin and music videos. Watch for this link to be available some time Saturday afternoon or evening. Barring any technical difficulties, the sermon video itself will be timed to be available around 9:00 AM Sunday morning and remain available thereafter.
Additionally, Ron and Bill plan to send out each week during this time various thoughts, prayers, perspectives and faith challenges on our website and through email for you to use for spiritual instruction and encouragement. Share these things widely with friends and family as we all walk through this time of forced retreat, reflection and increased ministry opportunities within our church and to our neighbors. Pray that God will use this crisis to drive us, and others, deeper into his Word, into prayer and into a fuller reliance upon his sovereign grace. We are already seeing many global illustrations of good outcomes from tragic circumstances related to this pandemic.
Even if you do not ordinarily do so – please consider using the online giving capabilities of our website. Click the word “Giving” in the upper right corner of the home page. This will access the portion of the website where you can give online. The instructions are very easy to follow. OR, if you prefer, you can mail in your offering. Our financial controller will continue to make deposits and manage our bills on a weekly basis.
Your session and diaconate will be having electronic meetings about twice a week to monitor the evolving situation and coordinate the care of the congregation. In that regard, we suggest a couple of good practices. Your elders and or deacons will be contacting you to touch base and be sure you know who you can reach quickly with any needs. One way we especially want to be available is if you or a loved one are ill, and you cannot get to the store. The pastors, elders and deacons will function as “shopping angels” to make runs to the store and deliver them to your front door. Of course, in such cases physical contact will be minimized. Additionally, we encourage you to find prayer partners within the church and beyond the church to further maximize the ministry of comfort, care and connection with our heavenly Father.
God bless and keep you all,
Pastors Ron, Bill and the Eastbridge Session
Letter From the Pastors and Session
Dear Eastbridge Family –
We love each of you and want to do our best to care for the folks God has entrusted to us. During these uncertain times with the spread of the Coronavirus, we seek to do everything in our power to make your time with us on Sunday morning as safe as possible. The following policies will help us to accomplish this goal.
§ Always begin with PRAYER! Pray for God’s intervention, protection, healing grace, and for courage and unity in our nation as we fight this outbreak together remembering that our God is sovereign over all of these challenges!
§ Anyone who has traveled to CDC travel watch list (level 3) in the past 14 days, please stay home until 14 days after return.
§ It is suggested that we should not greet one another with handshakes or hugs until the threat of the virus has passed. A nod, a wave and a warm greeting are a good alternative (elbow bumps not recommended). We trust this will help people feel more comfortable in church.
§ Offering plates will be held by ushers as you exit the sanctuary at the conclusion of the service so that there is no communal contact with the plates.
§ We will likely be suspending communion for a time.
§ We will try to maintain hand sanitizers at the doors of the building and plenty of soap for washing in the bathrooms. Please make ample use of these. We also recommend that, if you have your own pocket-sized hand sanitizer, you may want to bring that with you to church.
§ If you are not feeling well – with a fever or a cough – please stay home until you are well and beyond contagion, for the benefit of others. We will miss you, but we understand! Also, please let us know so we can be praying for you specifically, and how we can help in practical ways. Additionally, if you are immune compromised or have other underlying medical challenges, we encourage you not to put yourself or others at risk. Self-quarantining may be the best option for you.
§ If you are a family member of someone experiencing these symptoms, please stay home until you’ve confirmed you have not been exposed (use the CDC risk assessment.)
§ We are taking all precautions with regards to the cleaning and care of all children and youth areas. We will continue to do our regular, thorough cleaning in order to maintain a high standard of preparation for our kids and volunteers.
§ We will not be providing food this weekend for our youth Sunday School in order to be extra cautious. Sorry, please don't expect donuts Sunday.
§ Take this opportunity for phone fellowship - particularly with those who live alone or are homebound checking frequently on each other’s welfare.
Finally, your elders are continuing to monitor conditions and seeking to be responsive to the best advice from medical and governmental agencies so that we are good citizens and wise leaders. Please pray for us in this regard. If it becomes advisable for us to suspend services, we will notify you at the earliest possible time. To this end we are working on ways to provide the sermons with video (or at least audio) recordings of them online. Additionally, we will provide a service bulletin and sites to listen to the music so that we can be worshipping together according to the same themes though physically apart for a time.
Again, let us all be much in prayer for this time in our nation and indeed for the whole world! May the Lord mercifully bring this sickness to an end globally for his glory and for the good of all mankind! And may he again display his power in bringing good out of difficulty as he promised he is always doing. Therefore, we will not fear, but we will trust in the Lord.
Ponder and be refreshed in these Scripture passages: Philippians 4:6–7; Psalm 34:4; Joshua 1:9; Matthew 6:31–34; 1 John 4:18; Psalm 56:3; Psalm 46:1; Psalm 118:6–7; Revelation 1:17; Psalm 94:19; John 14:27; Mark 5:36; 2 Timothy 1:6–7; Isaiah 41:10; John 16:33
God Bless you and keep you,
Pastor Ron and the Session of Eastbridge