Services Resume June 21st
Recently the Premier of Ontario announced that some of the restrictions put in place due to COVID-19 will be lifted in our area. Although our city is yet to be permitted to enter Phase 2 of the Ontario framework for reopening, we have been given the greenlight to resume worship services, with certain precautions in place. We are thankful for this development and are committed to safely reopen with the health and wellbeing of our congregation and the community as a priority. Please find below our plan for safely resuming worship services at CBC.
1. Multiple Services
a. The Plan
Current guidelines allow for the church to use 30% of its building capacity for services. For CBC, this means we will have to hold multiple Sunday services with a maximum attendance of around 45 in each.
We will have two identical services on Sunday (Equip is postponed). The first will begin at 9:30 a.m. and the second at 11:30 a.m. The 11:30 a.m. service will offer Children’s Church and Toddler’s class (not to exceed 30% of room capacity). There will be no nursery services during either service but mothers will have access to our nursery room as needed.
b. Action Points
i. We ask that you choose to attend either the 9:30 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. service.
ii. If attending the 9:30 a.m. service please be considerate of those who will attend the second service by vacating before they arrive.
iii. Please remain flexible and maintain a willingness to defer to others if your desired service is full.
1. Contact Pastor Rick and let him know which services you would like to attend. Also, indicate if you are willing to attend either one
2. Contact via Facebook; Phone/Text (519-981-1376); or Email: pastorrickcowan@gmail.com
2. Social Distancing
a. The Plan
As mentioned above, we will only utilize 30% of our building capacity in order to allow for social distancing. We have adjusted our seating arrangement in order to reduce close contact between attenders. This includes only occupying every other row.
b. Action Points
i. Please sit with your family during worship with at least 2 metres from others.
ii. Please avoid hugging / handshaking.
iii. Please maintain 2 metres distance while interacting with others.
iv. Consider standing outside while fellowshipping after the service, while maintaining 2 metres distance.
3. Cleanliness and Sanitization
a. The Plan
i. We will be providing multiple stations with hand sanitizer.
ii. All high-touch/shared surfaces will be sanitized before each service (doorknobs, light switches, toilet handles, faucets and taps, countertops)
iii. The offering plate will not be passed.
iv. Alternate methods of participating in the Lord’s Table will be explored.
b. Action Points
i. Please ensure that your hands are properly washed / sanitized as needed.
ii. Please practice proper etiquette when coughing or sneezing (coughing and sneezing into the elbow or a tissue, discarding tissues into a lined garbage bin, and washing hands afterwards.)
iii. If possible, please avoid or reduce touching shared surfaces.
iv. Please prevent your young children from wandering throughout the church.
4. Other Questions
a. What if I don’t feel well?
If you or your family members are experiencing any symptoms (even mild symptoms), or if you are made aware that you have been in contact with a COVID-19 positive person, please stay home and follow all Health Unit recommendations.
b. Must we wear masks?
The wearing of masks is not required. However, you are more than welcome to wear a mask according to your comfort level. We expect to see attenders who have made both choices. CBC will not be providing masks, so please supply your own.
c. What if I’m not comfortable attending just yet?
We understand that there are a variety of opinions and approaches to the current situation and would like to encourage deference and acceptance for all. If you are not yet comfortable attending corporate worship, we understand and encourage you to stay home. Our preaching video will be available soon after our services.
5. A Final Word
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the elders of CBC met to determine how to proceed, we established some key priorities. These included: our biblical mandate as a church; the health and welfare of our congregation; respect for the government; and maintaining a proper testimony before the community. We remain faithful to these priorities and will continue to use them as guiding principles moving forward.
We are thankful for the opportunity to gather for corporate worship once again and look forward to being able to meet without these restrictions at some point in the near future.
Please exercise care and deference for others in all things, knowing that these are less than ideal times.
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Philippians 2:1-7