Dear Family and Friends,

You’ve been on our minds and in our prayers this week. We know from notes and calls with many of you that while the stay in place proclamations and taking care to avoid infection are necessary right now, we really miss being together, especially for Sunday worship.  

With that in mind we want to update you on our schedule through the rest of April into the beginning of May and our plans for moving forward as new guidelines are presented by our government officials. Please pray for our reliance on God for wisdom and resilience in what we expect will be an extended time of transition from the limitations in place now to comfortable routines. 

  • Sunday Worship – At this time, we will not gather together for Sunday Worship the month of April or on Sunday, May 3, but will continue live-streaming both morning and evening worship. We are looking forward to a special hymn sing during the evening worship on Sunday, April 26. Stay tuned for how you can request your favorite hymn online!
  • Children and Youth Ministries – Continued opportunities to grow in Christ through online children’s activities and online devotions for our youth can be found at ChristCovenant.org/Established each week.
  • Women and Men’s Ministries – Our women’s Bible studies are wrapping up for the year over zoom meetings, and the planning for new Bible studies to launch in the Fall is well underway! Our men’s ministry is hosting an online Breakfast Break in lieu of gathering together on May 2. The men’s Spring retreat that was scheduled for May 1-2 is postponed to the Fall.
  • Seek the City - After consulting with their oversight team, the pastors, and the Executive Leadership Team, our youth team has decided for Seek the City 2020 to be canceled. We are hopeful for Seek the City 2021 to happen.
 
You can’t get away from the daily reporting on COVID-19 and its immediate impact, but it’s never been more important for us to remember that God has a transcendent purpose in this pandemic. In his new book* John Piper says,
What God is doing in the coronavirus is showing us—graphically, painfully—that nothing in this world gives the security and satisfaction that we find in the infinite greatness and worth of Jesus. This global pandemic takes away our freedom of movement, our business activity, and our face-to-face relations. It takes away our security and our comfort. And, in the end, it may take away our lives. The reason God exposes us to such losses is to rouse us to rely on Christ. Or to put it another way, the reason he makes calamity the occasion for offering Christ to the world is that the supreme, all-satisfying greatness of Christ shines more brightly when Christ sustains joy in suffering.
May God bless you with joy today and show you ways to share the “hope that is within you.”

We are so thankful for the reports we’ve heard about the ways you are loving one another right now. God is using your quiet gatherings for prayer from a safe distance to comfort hurting families and your doorstep deliveries of groceries and freshly baked cookies for neighbors who are alone. Your continuing gifts to Christ Covenant help support our missionaries both across the globe and here in the United States and help to continue ministry at Christ Covenant.  If you know of a need in the church that our pastors and officers may not have been told about, please let us hear from you. You can call your pastor or elder directly or reach the church office at 704-847-3505 or send a prayer request to prayer@christcovenant.org .

Praying we will see you soon!

In Christ,

Kevin DeYoung, Senior Pastor
Tom Groelsema, Executive Pastor
 
* Coronavirus and Christ is free at https://www.desiringgod.org/books/coronavirus-and-christ . We hope to have print copies available at the church soon.

Christ Covenant Church (PCA) | christcovenant.org