Dear Church Family,
 

As mentioned during our online Sunday Service, your Church Leadership Team discussed how to return to some form of in-person worship at our Sheridan campus. 

We are excited to announce that we will conduct outdoor service on Sunday the 23rd and 30th of August. We opted to start with outdoors to not only take advantage of this amazing weather, but to allow us to learn how to best minister to our congregation while observing pandemic rules on gatherings. It is our intention to eventually begin indoor services starting in September (after our Salt Creek camping trip).

Many of you will likely have questions about how this will work. Here are a few basic questions and answers that will help explain our approach:

How many people can attend the outdoor service on the 23rd and 30th?
–  Per Washington state guidelines, up to 200 people can attend an outdoor service, as long as we follow proper social distancing, the use of face coverings, and all the guidelines for religious gatherings provided by the health department.

How will the church limit the number of people to 200?
–  After consulting with other area churches and our district leadership, we found the best approach is to provide an RSVP signup method. To avoid complicated procedures, the RSVP will be first come, first signup. The system will ask you to state how many will attend in your family group and ask that you commit to following state guidelines while attending. You can RSVP for this Sunday by going to www.lifepointnaz.church/rsvp

Where will the service be located?
–  We plan on using the parking lot behind the church, between the building and Nazarene Park. The grass hill between this lot and Sheridan road will be available for people to place blankets and chairs. We will provide a sound system to assist in hearing the Pastor’s sermon.

What are the social distancing requirements for outdoor services?
–  Family groups must be six feet from other groups. Family groups are recognized as groups that either live together or are together often such that they do not social distance.

How will Lifepoint establish required distancing?
–  We are encouraging those that will attend to bring their favorite camp chair, picnic blanket, or portable bench. We will still have chairs available for those that don’t have one. We will ask that family groups work together with each other to achieve the social distancing requirements.

What are the mask requirements?
–  Per Washington state guidelines for religious gatherings, face coverings are required for all participants. There are exemptions to wearing face covering, so please refer to the Department of Health’s Order on Face Coverings.

What if I can’t wear a mask due to medical reasons?
–  The church will provide masks but is not going to police their use. This is where we as Christians can exercise our Christ-like behavior and think of others first. If someone cannot wear a mask for personal reasons, then we will not judge them; but we do ask those that cannot wear a mask to respect others and maintain social distancing. 

Will the building be open for restrooms?
–  Yes, the downstairs bathrooms will be available for use. Signs will be set up to show you the traffic flow (enter through one door and exit through a different door). We will ask that people to self-regulate such that we do not have more than one family group at a time in the restroom area.

Are children allowed at the outdoor service?
–  Children are of course welcome! However, childcare services (nursery, children’s church) will not be provided at this time. Families bringing children will be expected to maintain social distance for all family members.

When will we start indoor services?
–  We are planning on our first indoor service in September (after our Salt Creek camping trip). We trust we will learn things from our outdoor services that will help us improve our plans for returning to services in our building.

What if I/my family is not ready to return to an in-person service?
– We understand that there are those that are not ready to return to in-person gatherings. Whether you are in the high risk category, work in environments where joining public gatherings are discouraged, or for personal reasons. Our online worship service will continue to be streamed on Lifepoint’s Facebook page at 10am on Sunday mornings (PST). The video will also be available on-demand throughout the week. But when you’re ready to come back in person, we will be here excited to welcome you back to our campus.

How can I help?
–  The biggest challenge in conducting in-person services during the pandemic is volunteer staff. We need volunteers! When we shift to indoors, we will need people to assist with greeting, traffic flow, seating, providing protective gear, and cleaning. We estimate we will need 10-15 volunteers each Sunday to ensure we follow all state guidelines. If you would be willing to assist your church in getting us back to services in the building, please let your Pastoral Staff know or email office@lifepointnaz.church.

Clearly there are things we will learn and continue to improve on as we start this process. We ask for your grace as we get there, but also for your help. We need your observations on things we can do better, things we may have missed. Feel free to share those by sending an email to office@lifepointnaz.church.

Grace and Peace,

Rev. Sherwin R. Rulloda
Lead Pastor

Church Board Leaders:
Bill Carlson, Church Board Secretary
Bob Kollars, Finance Chair
Larry Beal
Michelle Chavez
Kathey Druckhammer
Dan Gile
Val Gile
Lina McDonald
Tami Sargent
Lonnie Webster