“Open Up Kansas” Greetings!

I trust that things are going well for you and that you’re finding multiple reasons to rejoice in the Lord and give thanks to Him each Day.  God is so very good to us, especially in the storm!    “Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.  1 Thess. 5:16-18

We got off to a great “restart” of our church on May 10 as we finally we able to have our first service since the “shutdown” began for our church on March 22 (March 15 was the last time we met).  Things went very well and we did pretty well in sitting six feet apart from one another as families. 

We had a good number of folks attend Sunday morning and there were many who were not there.  We thank the Lord for those who came, and we thank the Lord for those who stayed home.    We don’t want anyone to feel pressured to come out.  Please stay home if you don’t feel comfortable getting with a larger group of people yet. I understand!   I will again try to post the morning message on our website by 1:00 or so Sunday.

We are having our morning service this Sunday, May 24 at 10:30 but there will again be no Sunday School and no Sunday School the 31st. We hope to begin again on June 7.  We will not be having our evening service this Sunday due to Memorial Day Weekend. 

We will continue to try to follow the “social distancing” guidelines by keeping 6 feet apart from one another as family groups. (in other words, families can sit together).  Face masks will not be required.  Of course, you can wear one if you like.  Not everyone will be wanting to come out and be a part of a larger group yet, and that is fine, we understand.  Please feel welcome to come or to stay at home.  This is totally each family’s decision.  And of course, don’t attend if you have a fever or cough, etc.

Our governor’s new four-part plan to reopen Kansas does allow churches and a number of businesses & restaurants  to begin meeting again if they follow what I like to call the 6 foot “Stay-Away” rule.  We’re just asking everyone to take it upon themselves to not sit close to one another except as families.  You can all bring your tape measure!   We will have extra chairs set up to help enable us to distance ourselves.  And if needed, some can sit in the west side dining area where we have a sound system—plenty of elbow room there!

We will not have coffee waiting for you as we normally do, so take care of your own coffee needs before you come!  We will not allow the young people to play in the east side activity area.  When you enter into the church, try to maintain the 6 ft. distancing from others.  We know there is going to be some incidental periods of being too close when we walk by each other, as is the case at Wal-Mart, Dillon’s & ACE Hardware!  But let’s all try our best.  We’ll not pass the offering plates, but will have them available for your offerings at back.  Let’s just try our best to maintain the social distancing as we leave as well.

Everyone has different opinions about how we handle this pandemic and how we “open up” our businesses (and churches) again.  We want to be very careful that we respect one another’s views concerning this.  There are those in our country who believe this is all a conspiracy or that the seriousness of it has been overblown and that we should never have shut down our economy in the first place, and everything ought to open up and get back to normal tomorrow!  Others are taking it very seriously and are extremely cautious so as not to be infected with the virus which indeed can be deadly.  Then there are those who see both sides.  Let’s just be respectful of each others views and feelings about this and love each other and encourage one another and, as the Bible says, “to look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.  Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus . . .”  (Phil 2:4,5)

Again, please do not feel you have to come to church if you do not yet feel comfortable getting with a larger group of people.  We will have a recording of the Sunday message for you to listen to sometime early Sunday afternoon, May 24 and following Sundays.

Yours for a Joyful Church Family,

Pastor Terry : )