Hi everyone,
Like the old proverbial saying goes: Which one do you want to hear first—the good news or the bad news? Actually there’s no real bad news; it’s all good news. The next stage (Stage 3) rollback of government restrictions is now in operation with more people allowed to gather in homes, hotels, restaurants, event venues, sports stadiums, and churches. The maximum number allowed in a venue (including church buildings) is only limited now by the 4m2 rule, which is good news for us as our building will allow us to accommodate 170+ people in our auditorium. If the JFC Children’s Program starts at the same time as our Service in different areas of our facility, then that means we’ll all be able to gather together at the same time each Sunday morning. And they have scrapped the extra distancing rule for singing (which was 7m2 instead of 4m2). There is also now no prohibition on pre and post Service gatherings, although the 1.5m social distancing rule will need to be carefully observed by all. There are also extensive cleaning routines that still apply, but all up it’s very good news for us as a Church.
The Ministry Leadership Team [MLT] will meet this coming Wednesday evening to plan when we (as a Church) will resume our ‘in person’ church gatherings on Sundays and what measures we need to take to be compliant and how the logistics (e.g. cleaning/hygiene measures, seating arrangement, offering collection, registration requirements, etc.) will be undertaken. We will let you know the details of that plan after that MLT meeting. By the way, a big ‘thank you’ to all who completed the recent Church Survey. We wanted to provide you all with the opportunity to have your say on how you think we should proceed to restart larger Sunday gatherings and the Survey was the best way to do that. While the first part of the Survey is now redundant, the second part has helpful information about our ministry focus going forward.
Today’s message is being brought to us by Student Pastor Andy. The passage of Scripture that he is preaching from 1 Peter chapter 1, which focuses on our eternal hope and how we should live as God’s people. Andy and Tammie will be taking a well-earned holiday for a few weeks from tomorrow (Monday), and we wish them a wonderfully enjoyable and refreshing time away.
May the LORD bless you as you wait on Him and worship Him and study His word to us this day.
Pastor Rob
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