Dear Church Family, 4/22/20
With Easter Sunday in the rearview mirror, we are preparing to enter the month of May. While May is usually a busy month full of activities associated with the end of school and the end of spring programming at church, we all understand that this May will be different. While we are making plans to reschedule Family Dedication Sunday, unfortunately our children’s music programs will not be taking place, and Graduate Recognition Sunday will look much different than it has in the past.
Concerning the summer months, unfortunately, several things have been cancelled and nearly everything else is tentative. Earlier this month, the Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention set for June 8-10 was cancelled. We got word this week that Panfork Baptist Camp has cancelled our children’s camp. We are awaiting word on the Student Ministry camp at Glorieta; however, we do know that all Student Life camps nation-wide were cancelled for the month of June. Even if the July camp dates are not cancelled, I am certain that Gary will proceed with caution and gather input from parents before making any further commitments. VBS is also on hold. We are currently discussing if and how we could conduct a VBS, even if in a much different format. Each week, we learn of more churches who have made the difficult decision to cut all summer programming with the hopes of re-starting in the fall. As the end of April approaches, we will need to make decisions regarding summer mission trips as well. As we stated previously, the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention advised churches not to make definitive plans before April 30. We have been and will continue to be in communication with our contacts in Taiwan, Thailand, and Peru. While our desire is to go with the gospel, we recognize that there are many factors that may prevent us from traveling overseas this year.
Finally, our governor released a revised document titled “Guidance for Houses of Worship During the COVID-19 Crisis” today (https://txvalues.org/2020/04/21/texas-opens-door-for-in-person-church-services/). Please know that our ministry staff and church council are prayerfully considering several options concerning when and how we can begin meeting again. Here are a few of the details that we are considering:
- Can we begin on-campus Corporate Worship and Sunday School Classes the same week?
- Will phase one of our re-opening include a worship only strategy?
- If so, will we spread people out throughout the building using livestream technology?
- Will we offer multiple worship services?
- Will we encourage people over 65 to continue to worship from home, online?
- Can our Sunday School classrooms accommodate social distancing recommendations?
- What will we do with larger classes that include the most vulnerable age groups?
- When will we be able to offer Children’s Sunday School, Nursery, and Worship Care options that take into consideration all the safety guidelines with which we have grown accustomed (and give parents confidence)?
There are many other questions that we are considering. Once the city’s emergency declaration expires, we may consider a few other options for Sunday morning worship. In the meantime, we anticipate continuing our online worship approach at least through the month of May, as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Amarillo and the surrounding areas. Our hope is to begin utilizing more musicians on Sunday mornings again soon as well. While other churches in the area may decide to re-open their doors more quickly, our desire is to best serve the safety and needs of our church members. Please know that we eagerly await the day that we can return to physically gathering for worship each Sunday.
Pressing On,
Pastor Nate