A Note from Pastor Jen:
Grace Members and Friends,
My goal is to offer the safest, best quality worship experience that we can. I recognize that it has been very difficult to be unable to worship together, in-person, at Grace. I would like to offer some background information to answer some of the questions of why we are moving so slowly to return to in-person worship.
When I started here, I was pleased to learn that Grace had already been worshipping online. I am not sure that everyone realizes that at the beginning of the Covid crisis, Brad Wallace and the worship team were still learning the video recording process for our sanctuary. There have been challenges but they have made it work to provide worship each week. The priority has been to offer a quality worship experience online, because this is the safest way to meet the needs of the most people. I believe that they have done a very good job. We CANNOT stop offering this option for worship. To record the service live takes a bit more finesse. To be honest, our equipment only became capable of this in the last week or so. To be able to offer the service live, we need at least one more regular tech volunteer.
Additionally, when I started at Grace, the Minnesota Conference had just moved from the orange to yellow phase to allow for limited in-person worship again. Our direction has been to go slow. These gatherings do not come without risk, and I take this responsibility very seriously. We were required to create a Covid Preparedness plan to demonstrate our readiness to gather again. Some things to consider were contact tracing requirements, insurance coverage, evaluation of our HVAC equipment, additional scheduling for cleaning and sanitation of the building, and more. We needed to look at all of this before discussing what worship could look like. There are other requirements for in-person worship as well. Everyone must wear a mask upon entering and throughout worship. A minimum of 6 feet must be maintained between families or individuals in worship. All hymnals and Bibles have been removed from the space. Singing should not be done by the congregation. Currently our conference recommends keeping attendance at 25% capacity. This puts us at 30 people, including staff and volunteers needed for worship. We cannot gather for coffee or fellowship inside the building.
We can be together, in a much smaller number, however, worship will not look like it used to. There is a lot to think about, and that is why we have moved slowly.
Here is what we are considering next:
- Do we require reservations for Sunday worship, to allow for planned seating/spacing? How much space do we reserve for visitors?
- Is our recording equipment sufficient to record live and allow us to put that service online? Is there anyone that will step forward to help with the technology in the sound room? Is there a need for another paid position to make this happen sooner?
- Do we record the full service as we have been, AND offer an in person modified service (this might include just a live message and recorded music)?
I am meeting with our staff and the various ministry team and committee leaders next week to discuss how to best meet the needs of our congregation. Please feel free to offer your thoughts, and definitely your prayers, as we move forward together.
Peace,
Pastor Jen
