Live Weekend Worship Gatherings starting in June.

(These will be in addition to online services which we will continue to offer.)

Starting Sat/Sun June 6-7 we will offer 4 smaller gatherings for worship, one each day in the sanctuary:  Saturday 5:00 p.m. in Fellowship Hall & 6:30 p.m. in the sanctuary; Sunday 9:15 (sanctuary) and 10:45 (Fellowship Hall).  

We will start out w 25 congregants plus leaders in each service per “yellow” guidelines and  increase numbers as Mercer County goes to “green;” though still maintaining significant  space between worshippers, thus limiting numbers to well below maximum capacity.   

Leadership for the services:

• Bill or other preaching-teaching leader will be in all 4 services and there will be another host leader in each service.    
• Musicians will be playing and to lead singing in each service.
• Each service will have a 2-3 person usher/safety team to greet, open doors and help people find their seats.
• A video/sound tech person for each service.     

Logistics and safety precautions:

• Congregants and leaders are asked to wear masks upon entering and leaving the building, but may remove them when they get to their seats.
• Usual “new normal” precautions such as staying home when ill, keeping social distance, those in at risk categories taking seriously CDC recommendations, etc.    
• Registering for a service beforehand is strongly advised given the limited capacity at each service.  Processes for registering to be announced June 2^nd.
• BYOB, which stands for bring your own Bible, of course!  There will be no Bibles, hymnals or papers to pass and handle.  Offering baskets will be on a table near where worshippers enter and exit.    
• Enter and exit through the main Walnut St. door for services in sanctuary, and thru Fellowship Hall doors either on Walnut St or in alley for Fellowship Hall services. 
• Worship spaces, bathrooms, and common areas (water fountains, doors, etc.) will be disinfected prior to each day’s services.

 Does the above regarding worship at East Main seem as strange to you to read as it does for me (Bill) to write? I have to remind myself that worship is much more about who God is as the object of our worship, and what He has done in  through, and as Jesus Christ, than it is about when, how, and with whom we worship.   Throughout history, God’s people have met for worship in all kinds of strange circumstances; and it’s thought that the place where the church is growing fastest in the world today is Iran – where gathering for Christian worship is illegal!  After 11 weeks of online services only, I am so looking forward to getting together with you again for worship – even if, at first, it’s through a series of baby steps.