Preparing for Corporate Worship to Resume at SGC
May 2, 2020
We are so looking forward to being able to gather once again for corporate worship, discipleship groups, church dinners, etc.!!! The elders began to examine how and when we could start meeting together again on Sundays a couple of weeks ago, just prior to Governor Abbott talking about opening up Texas again. We wanted you to know that we dearly value you as our church family and dearly value the privilege and calling God has given us to worship together. We are seeking to be as pro-active as we can about this, rather than reactive. Please know…because we love you so dearly, it is not merely a question of when we start meeting but also how we start meeting.
We are paying close attention to Gov. Abbott and Mayor Payton’s input, staying in step with CDC recommendations, receiving counsel from our Sovereign Grace Family of Churches and putting together our own local Medical Advisory Team made up of members of our church who are health care professionals.
When we think about resuming corporate worship, we are considering both your spiritual health and physical health. As such, we ask for your prayers as we consider things like:
- honoring those God has given to govern us, love our neighbors and consider their needs above our own and being sensitive to our civil liberties
- ensuring we are providing the best care and counsel possible to the most vulnerable among us
- the nursery and children’s ministries...we don’t think it would be wise to immediately have groups gathering in small spaces and children are not the best candidates for social distancing!
- how we would structure our services and seating in a way that provide appropriate social distancing between people
- providing livestream for the most vulnerable and those who are sick
- cleaning and sanitizing the facility, safest ways to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, ensuring supplies of hand sanitizer, paper products, etc.
While we are not yet sure when we will resume meeting, what we know is that it would likely not be any sooner than May 17, and it could be some time after that. We are seeking to look at this from every angle possible, including how God could use the timing of our “re-opening” the church as a witness to the lost in our community. We want to do all we can to remove any unnecessary barriers to the gospel. As such, one of the things we seek to be sensitive to is what it could communicate to the lost or unchurched if we came back “too soon”...whether the fears, concerns, judgements, etc. of those we are trying to reach are warranted or not.
Be assured, we will be guarding against being driven by trying to please everyone. We want to be compelled and guided by the Word of God. God’s Word presents several priorities that we have to hold in healthy tension: compassion/sensitivity to the needs of those around us, honoring those who God has given to govern us and obeying the command to… "not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Heb. 10:25. The church is not called to please the world, but to glorify, honor and obey the church’s Master who “so loved the world” and cared about the needs/frailties of the people around Him, honored the governing officials and obeyed every commandment of God. We want to do likewise.
We will provide you with weekly updates on our progress. Again, we would be very grateful for your prayers. Please let us know if you have any questions, suggestions or concerns.
In the meantime, you can access our livestream from our homepage, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or from sgcmidland.org/live. You can also subscribe to our YouTube watchpage to get links and updates as they come out. We will continue to send vital information, updates, and the link to our livestream via email. Please contact us if you have any questions, needs, would like prayer, or if we can serve you in any way.