Dear CGS Family -

 

On behalf of our Session, I want to extend our genuine appreciation to each of you for your steadfastness during this unsettled season.   You have been faithful and resilient amidst trying circumstances, and you have demonstrated compassion, perseverance, and patience.  The Session is deeply grateful for your spirit of commitment...

 

A cynical aphorism (wryly referenced among physicians and statisticians) springs to mind any time I am poised to share data: " Most people use statistics the way a drunk uses a lamppost: more for support than illumination."  That observation notwithstanding ( !),  I would like to share a few "quantitative" observations with you, that reveal the presence of a "sweet, sweet Spirit in this (CGS) place".

 

THE PORTRAIT:

 

We had over 300 responses to our church-wide COVID survey, which provided the Session a powerfully meaningful (in the statistical sense) portrait of our collective hopes (and concerns) regarding  when/how we might begin meeting again.  And given the Governor's update on Wednesday of this week, your responses have an obvious and timely relevance.  Here is a link to the original  questionnaire, and here are your collective  answers (in a PDF format, using simple graphs:  color crayons and pie charts - Fun!). 

 

I invite you to review the PDF to whatever extent your own interest prompts.  In addition, here are a few summary observations regarding your responses:

 

             Question 1.  An overwhelming majority (90%) of us are willing to submit ourselves to the same restrictions and guidelines regarding "mass gatherings" that our un-churched fellow residents in NC are subject to (see the orange and green "slices" on the pie chart).   I believe our posture provides a visible testimony to the entire Durham community: CGS is sacrificially modeling Christian charity by temporarily deferring its 1st Amendment rights (of religious assembly) for the sake of our community's well-being.  And yet at the same time, we are also exhibiting a sweet spirit of tolerance and respect for our own brothers and sisters within CGS

 

             Questions 2-4.   These answers reveal  a consistent core group at CGS (~ 20%) who are eager to return to in-person worship at the earliest feasible opportunity ( blue, in all three of these questions).  But these responses also illustrate that    ii)  about 75% of us have a sense of caution and vulnerability

 

             Questions 5-8.  These data clearly identify that - regardless of our differing individual thresholds for returning to worship as a physically gathered body -  virtually every one of us expect certain degrees of caution to be exercised, both    i) by the church as a facility,   and     ii) by those who elect to gather together with us.  

 

             Questions 9-10.  There is an interesting congruence on display here.   About 75% of parents whose children previously participated in Nursery or Children's Ministry  are not comfortable having all of their children return immediately to those settings once CGS reopens ( orange, red, and green).  Symmetrically,  about 70% of those persons who previously volunteered on Sunday mornings as workers/teachers  are hesitant about immediately resuming those roles ( orange, red).  This predicts the need for gradual evolution in that phase of our re-opening strategy, and  it signals the need to grant grace and patience to each other during that period of adjustment. 

 

             Question 11.  Again, we see an important core group ( 25%) of our people who are willing to return to gathered corporate worship immediately once Durham restrictions are lifted, ( even if that worship has to occur within significantly altered physical constraints - e.g. masks, spatial separation, no singing, etc).   As the Session continues to plan for re-opening, we desire to care well for these persons.  Yet it is also the case that 75% of our people ( red and orange) have significant hesitations about frequently worshipping together under such altered conditions.   Obvious implications include the absolute necessity of continuing to broadcast our services once we begin returning to some form of limited corporate worship.   This will have long-term budgetary impact.

 

             Question 12.  Despite the widespread concerns identified in our survey regarding rapid resumption of "regular" worship services, it is useful to note that ~ 75% of our congregation ( red and blue) would avail themselves of at least one opportunity to participate in Communion, if such an option presented itself.   This strongly suggests that it may initially be wise to transition back towards corporate worship by beginning with Communion services in some fashion. 

 

             Question 13.   About  7% of our congregation  feel that we are not moving quickly enough towards resumption of our former forms of worship gatherings ( blue).   The remaining 93% desire to either    i) move in pace with the recommendations of civic authorities ( red),   or    ii)  move even more slowly than those guidelines ( orange, green).

 

THE INFERENCES: 

 

A Praise -

            Despite significant degrees of divergence on a few particular issues,  this survey discloses a deep vein within CGS of brotherly and sisterly charity towards one another in Christ.   People responded to our survey with transparency regarding their preferences and concerns, yet did so with a consistent posture of humility and deference.  It is as if every person answered with a kindred spirit: "Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves.  Each one of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.   For even Christ did not please himself..." (Romans 15: 1-3).  Surely, "there is a sweet, sweet Spirit in this (CGS) place".  And this is cause for joyous praise in Christ.

 

A Further Praise:

            Our church's fiscal year concludes next week, and - despite the hardship and uncertainty of these last several months - gifts to the church this year have matched those of the preceding.   That is a praise, and a cause for celebration in Christ:   the Session is grateful to each of you for your faithful stewardship to CGS amidst this turbulence.  

            Be assured, however:  SARS-CoV-2 is contentedly thriving within our Durham community, and will do so for a season still...  E conomic hardship will expand during the months ahead -- particularly among the vulnerable in our city.  Must not CGS now position itself to attend effectively to the cries that will arise?  Should those of us who -- by God's grace -- have been spared much misery not now redouble our generosity, on behalf of those who will soon need assistance?  Give.  Give generously.   May it be so, Lord.

 

A CONCLUDING PETITON:

 

             Please pray relentlessly for your leaders here at CGS.  We confess our weaknesses, our inexperience in this type of season, and our helplessness apart from God Himself.  Pray specifically that God in His mercy might grant us a measure of the wisdom he granted to the sons of Issachar, "men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do" (1 Chronicles 12:32).

 

 

Godspeed - 

 

Glenn Jordan