Dear Church Family,
The Board of Deacons continues to pray for God’s wisdom, seeking His will for a responsible and safe return to in-person worship at NHCBC. We recognize everyone very much looks forward to seeing our church family again. What joy it will be! While we may not know the exact date of our return, the complex nature of social gatherings during COVID-19 means there is much to be done to prepare for this eventuality. As such, The Deacons have begun scoping the many layered issues and needs during a “Planning” phase in NHCBC’s Return-to-Worship Process.
Efforts to inform this decision have included canvassing other churches, assessing governmental COVID guidelines, speaking with church members and staff, as well as conducting “Drive-In Services” as an intermediary step. Please know that The Deacons are committed to keeping a close watch on virus spread data, as doing so will position us to move to the next “Action” phase of Return-to-Worship as soon as possible. The Allegheny County COVID Dashboard has served as a valuable resource for much of this data, most notably the Percent Positive Tests metric. This is widely regarded as the single best indicator of virus spread in a given community. While numbers have stabilized below the initial high-water level of this past spring, benchmarking recommendations have yet to be met. Additionally, we have yet to see a continued downward trend for 14 days (the CDC’s recommended course of action due to virus incubation period). These two metrics: Percent Positive Tests and Continuous Downward Trend will serve to point our direction. At this point, and from a planning perspective, this is unlikely to occur prior to November.
As mentioned, The Deacons and Church Leadership are committed to ensuring processes and procedures that represent NHCBC’s collective best chance to not only return to, but also REMAIN with in-person worship. These will likely include:
- Limited Attendance (Maximum occupancy of 40 persons)
- Social Distancing
- Completion of Screening Questionnaire
- Temperature Monitoring
- Mask Wearing at all times
- Adherence to Cleanliness Guidelines as provided by The CDC
- Persistent communication to our church family is another goal as we move toward Return-to-Worship.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to your respective Deacon regarding the above, or as we have come to expect with the tremendous showing of good will NHCBC is known for: to volunteer as many hands are sure to make this important work “lighter.” To facilitate the opening we will need some volunteers to help with the check in and the service. If you are interested in helping, please contact Lynn Berney, nlberney@yahoo.com
The Board of Deacons is praying that God will help us to know His will as we work to keep our church family safe.
“Teach (us) to do your will, for you are (our) God; may your good Spirit lead us on level ground.” Psalm 143:10
In His Service,
The Board of Deacons