Dear Church Family,
Most of you will by this point have seen or heard about the press briefing at which President Trump announced the release of CDC guidelines for the reopening of houses of worship, declaring that they are essential and promising to take action to see them legally reopened. While we are of course deeply pleased by the President’s encouraging promises, at time of writing, Governor Inslee has rejected the President’s recommendation and the President has not yet followed up on his threats with any legally enforceable action. Despite some very misleading headlines, for both legal and practical purposes, our situation therefore remains exactly as it did last week. We have also not yet received any response to the letter we sent out earlier in the week regarding the Lord’s Supper.
While we will continue to follow the situation closely, we will therefore be moving forward with our plan to have a drive-in service tomorrow morning at 10:00 am, following the same guidelines we used last week. As a brief reminder, with the exception of the parking lot attendants and those leading the service, all of us are going to have to stay in our vehicles for the entirety of our time on the property and follow the directions of the parking lot attendants.
As we did not seem to have any problems with our 40 minute service, in order to make the service a bit more robust, we will be extending it to 50 minutes. When we are done, we will have everyone exit the church property. However, unlike last week, those who wish to greet other church members in a socially distanced way, may pull back in to the equipping center entrance, provided they park at least six feet apart and continue to remain in their vehicles.
Even as we continue to follow developments and to make plans for more “normal” gatherings, we are excited to once again gather as the people of God for the glory of God. I look forward to worshipping the Lord together tomorrow! I will be, Lord willing, directly adressing the matter of our responsibilities to the government, outlining seven principles to guide us as we wrestle with how to respond to this difficult situation.
By His Grace and for His Glory,
Pastor Peter
