There seems to be a quiet murmuring around the countryside of Indiana. A murmur of people quietly huddled in their homes with loved ones or alone, that is ready to “Go to Church.”
One of the benefits of the Stay at home order has been the opportunity for “the church” to actually be the church in the local community. The tendency over the years has been for people to “attend” church rather than for the church to “be the church.” We are the called-out ones.
I know there are many opinions about how the church should look and behave, and I am not trying to stir something up in a time when we do not need arguments over tertiary issues. We need to be a force of one church like we have never been in our lifetime.
SOOOOO, what happens when we do go “back to church,” when we are able to gather physically at the location where our ekklesia meets each week? What do we need to consider to be able to gather together as the church?
You can find many very good articles online these days. Here are a couple I have found that I really like and want to share with you today:
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6840714/Guidelines.pdf
Many are asking the question, what should we be thinking as we consider going back to worship in the church building? SCBI Pastor Daniel Berry (Calvary BC, West Lafayette) sent this to me. I think it is helpful. It is a light system that indicates what phase the church is in. It is like the security levels that our government was issuing after the September 11, 2001 attack. Maybe this will be helpful to you (Attachment # 1)
Another helpful tool that I’ve discovered is from Will Mancini. He calls it the Invest/Engage Overlap Worksheet. The left column indicates the type of space that the church has available to use (virtual online space, home spaces and the church building). The next five columns indicate the government recommended the number of people to meet in a space. Each of these assume social distancing, face masks, regular cleaning of your facilities and hand washing.
These are interesting days that I believe God is using to draw people to Himself. Be sure to be informed about what your local agencies are saying so that you comply with the legal aspects of meeting as the church in the building.
- I am praying for each of our churches during this time.
- I pray that God will put it on your heart about how He wants you to “be” the church in your community.
- I am praying that someone will come to know Jesus as their savior, each week, in each of our churches.
- I am praying the lost world we live in will see Jesus bride, the church as a place of comfort, hope and peace.
- Mostly I am praying that they will see and hear the gospel being preached, taught and lived out.
Pastors, I would love to see you on Wednesday’s at 1:30 PM EST, on our weekly Pastors Zoom call (check your email for your Zoom link or email ablankenship@scbi.org to make sure we have your correct email).
SCBI family, we would love to see you on our weekly Prayer meeting on Thursdays at 8:00 PM EST / 7:00 PM CST as we pray for God to be glorified and that we would lean on Him like never before.
Please pray for our Highland Lakes Camp and our staff, as we have had to cancel our camps for the 2020 summer. You can’t believe the grief we feel about having to do this, but through prayer, conversations and evaluation for this summer and the future, we feel it is the best decision for this year.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to one of your SCBI staff team if we can help you.
Until Next Time,
Steve