Dear Church Family,
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been tremendously encouraged by our drive-in services. Though the circumstances have been far from ideal, we have been able to glorify God through our gathering and for this we give Him all the praise. While many inconveniences remain, Governor Inslee has substantially revised the legal restrictions placed on churches, enabling us to make the following changes to our service plan, starting this Sunday:
1. As a drive-in service remains our only option for gathering the whole church together, this will still be our basic plan. However, while everyone will still have to remain in their vehicles for the service, we will be able to make the bathrooms in the Equipping Center available. Only one family unit will be allowed in each bathroom at a time, and young children must be accompanied by a parent or an older sibling. If you leave your vehicle to go to the bathroom, you will need to wear a mask and maintain a six foot distance from others. When you are done, you will need to return to your vehicle.
2. We will, at long last, be taking the Lord’s Supper together! Of all of the difficulties of this lock-down, this is the one that has pressed hardest on my heart, and I’m very very excited about sharing the table of our Lord with you all. We will be using pre-sealed elements that include both the bread and the wine (grape juice). While the bread included with the juice does have gluten, we also have a pre-sealed gluten-free option for those who need it. The servers will distribute to the driver of each vehicle—just let the server know how many your family needs and if you need gluten free bread.
3. While we still cannot have an outdoor service with the whole church, we can have outdoor gatherings of up to 100 people. As we did last week, we will have everyone leave immediately after the drive-in service is completed. Since we have a 100 person limit on outdoor gathering, we have divided the church into two groups, based on their last name. This week, those who have last names starting with A-K can return for a time of outdoor fellowship in which we will be able to get out of our vehicles and actually see one another. Next week, we will do the same with those whose last names start with L–Z. If the weather is poor, we will fellowship in the pavilion. During this time, all of us will need to wear masks (except for small children) and maintain six feet of distance between family units.
I’m thankful for these changes and excited to gather together with you all for the glory of the One who gave His life for our redemption.
For His Glory,
Pastor Peter
This letter modifies the previous and more detailed guidelines for drive-in services which are available here.