Redemption Church // Plan For Re-Opening
Updated May 6, 2020
Proverbs 16:9- The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.
We live in a season of time where it seems almost impossible to plan beyond today. It seems almost daily we receive new numbers, updates, and guidelines for gathering. My best guess is this current season will last longer than any of us desires.
Personally, I ache for the day we can gather for worship and do life together in real life instead of virtually. This plan is really our attempt to have a plan for re-opening in a way that is safe, wise, and helpful. The reality is, most of this is out of our control, but we want to be ready and have a plan. Like one of my friends and mentors always said, “A bad plan is better than no plan.”
I am in conversations with leaders almost daily, as we are interpreting the guidelines, and making plans to take next steps towards re-opening the church. This is flexible and subject to change as the world around us is changing!
The good news is Jesus still has the whole world in His hands and nothing, not even the gates of hell can stand against Jesus and his church!
In This Together,
Adam
On Tuesday, May 5th Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced his five-phase reopening plan the state of Illinois.
On Tuesday, May 5th Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced his five-phase reopening plan the state of Illinois. Please note, our plan is a response to the re-opening plan. The timeline is out of our hands, but we want to have a plan of how to move through the phases in a way that allows us to continue to see Lives Changed By Jesus and Disciples Made.
Our heart is to continue to love, shepherd, and care for our church family, while reaching out to our community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the best of our ability during this time.
Phase 1 - 3: Gatherings of Under 10 People.
The State of Illinois is currently in Phase 2. While the Church have recently been deemed essential, we are limited to under 10 people in each gathering. During the phases that limit gathering sizes to 10 or under, Redemption Church will continue with the Sunday Morning Worship Experience, Kid’s Ministry, Prayer Gatherings, and Hangouts Online.
Phase 4: Gatherings of 50 or Under
As states begin to re-open in phases, Gatherings of 50 or less will happen in Phase 4.
To prepare for this scenario, Redemption Church will continue to stream our Sunday Worship Experience online, while encouraging people to meet in homes together for worship, prayer, conversation, and communion.
We will also be able to being meeting together on Sunday mornings in person, for worship. According to the Governor’s plan, Sunday Morning Gatherings will have a limited capacity of 50, therefore we would need people to pre-register in advance so we know who is coming. We will explore the possibility of offering an additional service to accommodate participation..
In this phase participants will be required to wear masks, and social distancing is still encouraged. We have already purchased pre-packaged communion supplies with the juice and wafer being in an individual, sealed container. We will sanitize the facility before and after our worship gatherings.
While some are very eager to meet again, we understand that some people may be cautious about gatherings. We highly encourage people who remain at risk, have compromised immune systems, or have preexisting conditions to be both wise and safe. We will continue to offer our streaming worship experience to accommodate those who would like to continue to participate from home.
We will continue to make the Kid’s Ministry resources available online as initially there will be no childcare available on Sundays. Families are welcome to register and sit together as a family on Sunday Mornings. As we progress it may be possible to begin offering Kid’s Ministry
Phase 5: Illinois Restored
Phase 5 begins when we are able to return to open worship gatherings again, as we have in the past. During this phase we will encourage people to be wise and encourage limited social distancing. As always we will continue to offer a clean and sanitized facility on Sunday mornings, and will return to regular communion elements, while no longer requiring the prepackaged and sealed elements.
We will offer Kid’s Ministry on Sunday mornings, and pay attention to classroom sizes. We will continue to offer streamed worship gatherings for those who are unable to attend or are uncomfortable with large group gatherings.
The reality is, this plan is written in pencil, and will likely be updated as we receive more information and updates. While we do not know what tomorrow will being, we can stand firm in Christ, our solid rock, our refuge, and our hope that is greater than any suffering we face!
Together, let’s live for the glory and mission of Christ today!