Dear Hope Church Friends – good news!
Hope Church leadership has decided to move toward a gradual resumption of in-person worship, starting Sunday, June 13.
This is something we have all looked forward to, and we are grateful to be able to share this news with you.
The video included with this message gives you some of the broad outlines of how we are moving forward with in-person worship, as well as with reopening the building for some groups. There are many more details to follow, but for now we wanted to share this important update with everyone.
We give thanks to God for the grace that continues to sustain our congregation through this challenging time, and we are grateful to all of you for your faithfulness as part of the Hope Church community. We trust the video will be helpful in outlining these plans, and more details will follow later this week.
In Christ’s Peace – Hope Church Consistory
You can view the video by clicking this link: Link to Video
To turn on the subtitles, you can click on the CC button on the bottom right of the screen. You can also click on the settings button (it looks like a gear) in the bottom right corner of the video and then select subtitles/CC(1) and change it to English (auto-generated)
Video Transcript:
Peter: Greetings, Hope Church! I’m Peter Boogaart, and I serve as the elder vice-president of our consistory. I’m here today in the sanctuary along with Dan Fisher, chair of the Coronavirus task force, and pastors Jill, Beth, and Gordon. We’re here to share an update after the Consistory meeting that was held via Zoom on May 10. After more than a year, much loss, some unexpected gains, and many new lessons in how to continue to be the church during this time of global pandemic, we can at last announce a plan to resume in-person worship in the sanctuary and a gradual reopening of the building for smaller groups as well.
Our plan is to resume worship in the sanctuary on Sunday, June 13. You have supported the way we have negotiated this past year, and you have continued to be present to each other virtually—on zoom and Facebook and in other ways—to keep each other and the larger community safe. Thank you. Because of your support, we are now confident that we can make this new plan work too. We aren’t able yet to simply throw open wide the doors as before. We will begin in-person worship with more limited numbers – around 100 or so people present – and we will use masks and distancing of households as recommended by health experts. There are many logistics to work out and details will be sent out in early June, but you can know that in-person worship is resuming soon! We are also doing all we can to increase the health atmosphere of the building, guided by the work of the Coronavirus Task Force, and Dan is going to tell you more about that.
Dan: Thanks Peter. Our Hope Church Coronavirus Task Force members include Jill Russell, Gordon Wiersma, Beth Carroll, Laurie Baron, Peter Hoekman, Arlan Branderhorst and me. For the last eight months, we have been monitoring the rates of infection and positivity test rates. We have researched what is known about how the virus spreads and how to mitigate that spread. We are monitoring carefully the status of the vaccines and how they are being administered in our community. Our discussions have revolved around assessing what is risky, and what is safe and responsible behavior, taking our cue from the CDC and Michigan state guidelines.
“When can we meet safely?” and “how can we meet as safely as possible?” have been the questions uppermost in our minds. We have worked out data driven metrics that helps us determine the answers to these questions and assess our risk level. We have been working on ways to improve air flow and air filtration within our building and are thoughtfully implementing mitigation strategies and protocols. Barring unforeseen changes in the pandemic, we think the time has come when the best and most responsible thing we can do for the wellbeing of Hope Church is to begin a staged reopening of our building.
As Peter mentioned, starting Sunday, June 13, in-person worship will resume in the sanctuary, with a limited number of attendees and increasing as able over time. The church staff is working out complete details, and more details will be coming your way. We also plan gradually to bring smaller groups back into the building, and adding ministries and administrative groups later. Again, the details are being worked out– we’ll get them to you soon.
Because of our demographic as a church, and through what we know anecdotally, it’s clear that a high percentage of our membership has already received a vaccination for Covid. This is great news. It’s hard to overstate that as a major reason for our confidence in resuming in-person worship. Your vaccination helps protect both you and everyone you come in contact with. We are grateful for this protection as we come together. We also know that not everyone is able to receive a vaccination, but we are confident that our mitigation strategies are strong enough to effectively lower the risk of infection for everyone.
Ultimately, there is no perfect safety here or anywhere, and each person, each family, must assess the risk for themselves. Our team will continue to monitor key risk indicators and relax guidelines when warranted and be prepared to react if the indicators go in the wrong direction. We do believe, though, that this reopening plan is responsible given the current circumstances as we move step-by-step toward our new normal in the coming months.
Jill: I am so looking forward to resuming in-person worship on June 13! I hope to see many of you there. As you’ve heard, we need to start out gradually in terms of attendance, so in the beginning weeks, we may have to take turns coming to church. But we want to be sure that you know that during this time and beyond for the long-term, our live broadcast on Facebook will continue. We value those who have joined us in this new medium, and we look forward to growing and serving together as one body, even as we are connected in some new ways.
Beth: Last spring Pastor Jill mentioned the confusion and hope that surrounded the outpouring of the Spirit we celebrate at Pentecost. Well, here we are again, nearing that Pentecost season, having lived and suffered, celebrated and waited through a year unlike any that any of us has seen before. We have learned some new ways to care for each other. And we’ve also learned more about what we cannot live without. Now it’s with joy that I anticipate moving forward with you into the faithful work of this congregation that has continued through all these changes—and into new directions by the Spirit’s leading.
Gordon: On Easter morning, as some of us were able to gather in the parking lot to celebrate with Resurrection “Alleluias” and with actually singing together! – I looked around at the many beautiful faces gathered together – your faces – and felt along with Pastor Jill and Pastor Beth a sense of relief and gratitude. Somehow, although this isn’t yet over, by God’s grace we have made a way through this time. We are together. We are still Hope Church. We have stayed connected to God and to each other. And even more, during a time of global pandemic and social upheaval, we have found faithful ways to connect more deeply with our partners in our community and in the world. It is very good to be on the brink of return, and also good to be looking ahead in ministry as the Hope Church community of faith. So, whether you choose to worship in the sanctuary in June or via Facebook, whether you are a long-time member or just getting acquainted: Welcome, and God’s blessings and Peace to you – we will see you soon!