Friday Church Life Update

Greetings, EMC family! Our weekly update comes to you a little later than usual, but I trust it finds you safe and well.

I have begun to sense this week a growing fatigue with remote meeting. I get it. We were not made for quarantine, but for a corporate, incarnational fellowship of shared life and love. But we are still in the midst of a unique season of life that none of us saw coming, and we may still be facing a long recovery. So hang in there! Don’t despair! Don’t give in to angst and frustration, but rather (as we said in the beginning) “cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (I Peter 5:7, NIV)

The Gospel Coalition has a great article out that encourages churches to not let the coronavirus divide us. I’ll let you read it on your own, but here are a few of the key points:

Model love that places the interests of others above the self. Everyone will bring different opinions, perspectives, and convictions to how to conduct church life moving forward. We must all do our best to avoid casting judgment on one another and to be willing to make sacrifices for each other.
We could all use a bit more humility. No one of us should assume we’ve arrived at the definitive answer on how to do all of this well. Let’s just acknowledge that not everything is obvious, and we are all just trying to do the best we can.
We should be careful not to rush things. We should be patient with a timeline that might be slower than we’d prefer; patient with a reopening process that will doubtless be clunky; patient with leaders feeling the pressure of this complex situation; and patient with one another as we figure out the new normal.

I think those are wise words–ones I myself will be trying very hard to follow and model in the weeks and months ahead.

The good news is that Pentecost is coming (May 31)! That will be a much welcomed reunion of sorts. The plan is still to have a worship service here at the church somehow someway. Stay tuned as we continue to monitor the Governor’s direction along with the weather forecast. We will let you know what the precise plans are as soon as possible.

In other news, we are doing our very best to plan and prepare for how we must adapt to the changing times. While we don’t know the future, we are convinced that livestreaming will remain a vital part of our worship and preaching life moving forward. Whether it’s to continue to reach families uncomfortable with returning to corporate gatherings for a while, or simply to expand our reach as a church to an increasingly technological world, the plan is to continue offering services online even after restrictions on mass gatherings are eased and/or lifted. Here are just a few of the things we are doing now to prepare for the future:

Updating our broadcast capabilities to a more permanent, professional solution than the patchwork of equipment we cobbled together when all of this started
Expanding the A/V team by recruiting new members. If you are interested, shoot me an email and let me know.
Re-envisioning the worship platform. Right now all the instrumentalists are clustered to one side of the platform. We are exploring several adjustments to make better use of the space and to more beautify it for worship both in-person and online. This will involve things such as repositioning instrumentalists (both regular worship team and orchestra), recalibrating the lighting system, and creatively decorating the space so it’s not just a vast sea of dark empty chairs in the background. I’m excited to see what the many wonderfully gifted individuals with an eye for aesthetics at our church can do when given the opportunity to be creative. You should be too!

Please be in prayer for all of our church’s life moving forward, that we would follow the Lord’s leading and remain unified in our pursuit of him and his vision and mission for us. At the risk of sounding like a blind optimist, I believe our best days lie ahead, so long as we remain committed to our core identity while adapting to the times in order to reach the lost. Though much is uncertain, there is also much to be excited about.

Thanks for taking the time to read everything here. If you have any questions or insights of any kind, please feel free to share them with me. I am here for you, praying for you, and eager to be reunited with you face to face very soon!

In Him. With you.
Pastor Sean