COVID-19 Virus Communication from Mark Prater to SGC Leaders
The COVID-19 virus (Coronavirus) has filled the news headlines for several weeks. The World Health Organization determined this week that it is a pandemic, the first our world has had since 2009. Without a doubt, members of your church are tracking these events and responding to them in different ways. They are also looking to you to provide leadership and pastoral care.
For that reason, the Leadership Team and I wanted to pass along some thoughts that we hope will serve you as you pastor and lead your church. Keep in mind, these are only thoughts. You know your church and community best. So, only use the thoughts that serve your local church, if you use them at all.
The thoughts below are in categories of leadership and pastoral care.
Leadership
The members of your church want to know if you are tracking the events surrounding the spread of the COVID-19 virus and if you are thinking about the implications it has for your church. Therefore, consider communicating clearly, succinctly, and as often as it serves them.
Here is a list of thoughts you can consider including in future communications:
Let your members know that you are consistently tracking the spread of the COVID-19 virus including your own locale and whether there are any confirmed cases in your area.
Let your members know that you are tracking local, county, state and national government decisions and any potential restrictions.
The spread of the COVID-19 virus will vary from place to place. Not every community is going to be affected uniformly. For example, if there are no, or few reported confirmed COVID-19 cases in your community, you may choose to go ahead with your Sunday meeting. Others of you may live in a community that is more affected and to hold your Sunday meeting might seem thoughtless to those most vulnerable to infection. You know your church and your community, and you are best equipped to make these weighty decisions. Therefore, communicate that your eldership continues to discuss, consider and pray about what will best serve your church as it relates to your Sun service, small group meetings, etc.
Communicate that your eldership will follow any government-mandated ban on public meetings (Sunday service, small group meetings, etc.) in keeping with Romans 13:1-3.
Give your members direction regarding the Sunday service including:
If you are sick, even with a cold, or a member of your household has been sick in the last 48 hours, please stay home. (If your church offers live stream, then include a link to where they can watch the service from home.)
Inform your members that you are disinfecting the facility you meet in, including door handles, rails, and other surfaces before the church gathers on Sunday. Encourage your church to greet one another with encouraging words, but to refrain from shaking hands, or hugging to help prevent the spread of any illness.
If your liturgy typically includes greeting one another, then let your church know that you plan to eliminate that greeting until further notice.
Let your members know that you are considering ways to share communion as a church that limits the passing of the elements (For example, consider purchasing prepacked cups with sealed juice and wafers that can be placed on a table.)
If you pass baskets to collect the offering, consider whether you want to maintain that practice, or place the baskets near the doors where people can drop their offering.
Consider asking your members to wash their hands often as a means to prevent the spread of any illness.
If you learn that a member of your church has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, consider informing your church that you have asked that member to comply with doctors’ orders for a 14-day quarantine. You will need to use your discernment on whether to share the name of the person or not.
One other important thought. As Christians, we have the opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ in our communities. There are people all around us that are consumed with the COVID-19 virus and they are anxious and fearful. But Jesus offers hope and peace in the gospel. Therefore, encourage the members of your church to look for opportunities to share the hope of the gospel in their neighborhoods.
I’ve pasted below a communication that our elders at Covenant Fellowship Church sent to our members this past Saturday.
Pastoral Care
Encourage your church to respond to the COVID-19 virus with faith and to resist fear and anxiety by pointing them to truth. Scripture passages to consider:
Remind your members of their adoption by God in the gospel and therefore we are not to fear. “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!” Romans 8:15
Help your members overcome fear with faith: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” Psalm 56:3-4
Encourage your church to turn anxious thoughts into passionate prayers: “The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:5b-7
If your liturgy includes a pastoral prayer, consider praying against the spread of the COVD-19 virus, asking God to heal those affected, and pray that you can trust God as a church.
Remind your members of the sovereign rule and reign of God and for that reason, we can have joy in the midst of a pandemic: “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns!’…Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.” 1 Chronicles 16:31, 34
This post by Denny Burk is helpful. You can read it here.
This post by The Christian Counseling & Education Foundation (CCEF) is also helpful. You can read it here.
Look for ways to bring application as it relates to the COVID-19 virus in your normal preaching schedule.
Inform your church that you are looking for ways to serve your congregation and your community who may be affected by the COVID-19 virus.
Keep in mind that your own personal example of following God with faith and joy, absence of fear and anxiety will strengthen the saints in your church.
We hope these thoughts serve you. Please know that we are praying for you asking God to give your wisdom as you lead and care for the members of your church.
With faith in our God who reigns,
Mark
Communication to CFC:
Dear Covenant Fellowship Church Family,
We will hold our Sunday service tomorrow at 10am. (Don’t forget to turn your clocks FORWARD.) We have been tracking the spread of the coronavirus and have been considering the steps that our church can take in response. We don’t want to react in fear, but we want to be wise. Therefore, we are taking the following precautions which may help prevent the spread of this illness and other illnesses like the flu.
If you are sick at all, even with a cold, or if you or anyone in your household has been sick in the last 48 hours, please stay home and enjoy our service online at www.covfel.org/live or get there through the home page.
Door handles, rails, and other surfaces which hands may touch have been disinfected for the Sunday morning service.
Please greet one another with a kind word but refrain from shaking hands or hugging to help limit the spread of sickness should you be ill but non-symptomatic.
We will be eliminating the “greet one another” during our service until further notice.
Please wash your hands often. Medical professionals are all agreed that thorough handwashing is the best defense anyone can deploy to help thwart the spread of disease.
We ask you to pray for our church and for those most susceptible to this virus. Pray that God would use this for his glory and to draw many to himself.
If you have any concerns, please contact the pastors by calling the church office (610-
361-0606) or reach out through email (covfel@covfel.org).
Sincerely,
Your Pastors