Good morning River of Lifers!
We have some exciting news! There is an official date on the books to reopen the church! Our team has been meeting and planning and preparing and we are finally there. I know this post has a lot of information, but it is all important, so please read it thoroughly.
Here is what you need to know:
- Next Sunday, June 7 at 10 a.m. we are officially going to begin gathering at church again! Our plan is to host outdoor services for the summer. We do have a few backup plans, should weather become a major issue, but we believe the plans for outdoor services will be amazing for the summer!
Since we are doing something new, and we don’t want to end up with a major traffic jam in the parking lot, we are asking for staggered arrival times as follows:If your last name starts with A thru I, please arrive 15-20 minutes before service.If your last name starts with J thru R, please arrive 10-15 minutes before service.If your last name starts with S thru Z, please arrive 5-10 minutes before service.
- UPDATE TO ARRIVAL: We are limited to 25% occupancy, so we will honor first come first serve for our services. (If we have to move inside due to inclement weather, we put notice out on social media and the website on Saturday night before service. We will also discourage congregating in the lobby or sanctuary before and after service.)
- Make sure to dress according to the weather and bring your own seating with – chairs or blankets, whatever you like!
- Our first Sunday back together will be Communion Sunday, and we will partake together. We have purchased pre-packaged communion cups (non-gluten-free) that we will be using for the summer.
- Please bring your own beverage. As an extra safety precaution, the water fountains have been shut off and we will not be serving coffee for the time being, so bring your own beverage if you prefer to have one. (We also will not have donuts for the teens.)
- If you are uncomfortable coming to a larger gathering, we completely understand and want you to know that we will continue to host an online service as well.
- We will have an FM transmitter and will broadcast the service, so you can sit in your car and listen to service if we exceed the current gathering limit of 250 people as well. We will have signs posted in the parking lot with the station to tune into.
- Also, this is very important: If you are or have been sick or had a fever over the last two weeks, please stay home until you are well and certain that you won’t be sharing your illness.
- We will have measures in place to keep everyone who does come safe.
- If you prefer to wear a mask, please bring your own. (We will have some available just in case you need one.)
- We will have hand sanitizer readily available.
- We are encouraging social distancing guidelines per the MN Dept of Health and CDC.
- Finally, ROL Kids will continue to have online programming on our Family Ministries Facebook Page, but there will not be any kids programming available at the church for the summer. The playground will be open for kids to play during service and we will have disposable busy bags available as well. If you don’t feel like either of these options will be good for your kids, we completely understand and encourage you to continue joining us online for service. (Please note that the playground equipment will not and has not been cleaned, but there will be plenty of hand sanitizer available.)
I know this is a lot of information to take in, so please refer back to this post prior to coming to service next weekend. We are so excited to see you all in person again soon!!
Blessings!
Robin Stoddard
Office & Facilities Coordinator