Crosspoint Family,
The past three months has been a wild ride for all of us. Stay at home orders, social distancing, washing your hands several times a day, wearing masks at the grocery store, and not being able to gather in large groups has become our new normal. During this unusual season figuring out how to participate and engage with the church has been challenging. I’m sure that many of you may feel somewhat disconnected from one another. We are thankful to the Lord for the current technology that has enabled us to upload our worship services to Youtube and that our small groups continued to meet via Zoom.
The Elders and Staff have been in conversations over the past several weeks about when to re-open Crosspoint for in-person worship on Sunday mornings. We are excited to announce that we will re-open on Sunday morning, June 28th at 10:30. We are taking a “phasing in” approach to re-opening. Phase 1 begins this Sunday and could last several weeks/months, until we are ready for Phase 2. Phase 1 will not look like a typical Sunday morning at Crosspoint. Sadly, we just can’t return to what a normal Sunday looked like before COVID-19 became a reality in our community.
Our three main goals as we re-open are the centrality of the gospel, your safety, and creating a welcoming space. We believe we can accomplish those goals with wisdom and sensitivity to all of you. There are some in our congregation who will not be comfortable meeting for in-person worship for a variety of reasons and that is totally ok. We will continue to upload the sermons to Youtube for those who will be worshipping from home. For those who do desire to worship with us in-person on Sunday mornings, here is what Phase 1 will look like:
By filling out the reservation form, it enables us to know how to setup the sanctuary for seating and also will aid us with tracking and tracing in the case of someone who may test positive for COVID-19. We will be sending out the reservation form in an email each week.
Take Your Own Temperature:
Before you leave your home on Sunday morning, we are asking you to take your own temperature and the temperatures of those in your family. If anyone has a temperature over 100.4, we ask that you stay home.
When You Arrive:
After you have parked, a volunteer will be standing outside to greet you and direct you where to enter the building. The downstairs will be completely closed which means everyone will enter through the double doors at the top of the stairs or through the special needs entrance. As you enter the building, you will be greeted by two additional volunteers. One volunteer will check your name for your reservation and the other volunteer will be dispensing hand sanitizer. If your name is not on the reservation list, you will be asked to wait outside and if there is room for you, then you can come in. Once in the building and through the lobby, you can take your seats.
Social Distancing:
During Phase 1, we will re-open at half capacity which means we will have about 70 chairs spread throughout the sanctuary. We will do our best to group the chairs to accommodate the reservations.
Masks/Face Coverings:
We are asking everyone to wear masks/face coverings for in-person worship. We acknowledge that wearing a mask to church will be awkward and uncomfortable for many of us (some would say that we’ve been wearing “masks” to church for decades! Haha). The main reason we are asking you to wear a mask/face covering is this is one way to love our neighbor as ourselves (also, the Town of Boone is requiring everyone to wear a mask in indoor establishments). COVID-19 spreads very easily. If someone were to cough or exhale heavily into a conversation with others, then they could infect someone. We would encourage you to consider what Paul says in Galatians 6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” If my wearing a mask makes someone feel more comfortable attending an in-person worship service, then why would I not do that for that person? Wearing a mask then becomes a way that I bear someone’s burden. If you do not have a mask/face covering, we can provide you with one. This request does not apply to children 5 years of age and younger.
An additional note on masks: the worship leader and the preacher will most likely not wear masks
while they are leading worship and preaching.
We will make sure that the worship leader and preacher are at a safe distance from the congregation.
Nursery and Children’s Church:
We will not be providing nursery or children’s church during Phase 1. We can provide a coloring sheet for your kids. We would simply ask that you let us know if your kids will be attending on the reservation form.
No Stickboy or Coffee:
Sadly, we will not be offering food from Stickboy or coffee during Phase 1.
Restrooms:
The upstairs restrooms will be available for use. Ideally, use the restroom right before you leave your home!
Recent Travel:
If you’ve traveled recently, consider worshipping from home for at least a week.
Communion:
We have purchased “communion packets” for when we celebrate the Lord’s Table together. Our first communion Sunday will be July 5th and we will give more direction on what taking communion will look like on that Sunday.
Service Length:
Our goal is to keep the worship service fairly brief, about 45 minutes. This means that our time in singing will be shortened and the sermon will hopefully be about 25 minutes in length.
As you can imagine, in order for all of this to take place, we will need all hands on deck (sanitized hands, of course!). If you would like to serve as a volunteer (greeters, attendance takers, hand sanitizer providers, etc.), please email/text Pastor Scott (
scottstewart25@gmail.com
; 828-808-6867).
We ask that you would continue to pray for us as navigate these strange waters. Let us all take the posture of what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13,
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.”
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We love you all and we look forward to seeing many of you on June 28th.
Blessings,
Pastor Scott and the Session and Staff of Crosspoint
Ruling Elder, Daniel Law
Ruling Elder, Lionel van der Westhuizen
Ruling Elder Dennis Eldred (currently on sabbatical)
Sarah Hilton, Director of Children and Youth Ministries
