HELPING PEOPLE FOLLOW JESUS
May 13, 2020
Dear Church Family:
As we look forward to fellowshipping again in person at the church building, we wanted to share some details about our plan for re-opening the church.
We are pleased to announce our plan to begin holding services at E Free again on Sunday, May 24 at 10:15 am.
We are thankful that we once again have the freedom to gather, but we recognize that our church has a responsibility to take care of our people and safety is important. With this in mind, we want you to be aware of a few temporary changes to our Sunday morning format, including sanitation and safety measures that we will be adopting as we begin to meet together again during this time. As you enjoy greeting each other in person, please be gracious! Keep in mind that hugs & handshakes may not yet be welcome for some. Help to make our fellowship comfortable for those who may be more or less hesitant than you.
WORSHIP SERVICE
- As you enter, we encourage you to head into the worship center and find a seat. Please enter through the middle doors.
- Per CDC recommendations, we plan to adjust our method of seating; we will leave some seats empty to maintain appropriate space between people. There will be signs on rows that will not be in use. Family groups are welcome to sit together.
- There will be no on-site Sunday School at this time. Adult Sunday School classes will continue to meet via zoom. Some adjustments to the Sunday School schedule may be made in order to allow people to both participate in remote Sunday School and attend the on-site worship service. Please contact your class facilitator for information.
- We will not be printing and handing out bulletins at this time. Sermon notes, announcements, etc. will continue to be emailed. A very limited number of printouts will be on hand for those who don’t use email. If you don’t have access to email, please contact the church office and we will make sure to get you any information you need.
- Our practice for offering and communion will look a little different during this time. For more details, see the email from the Elders or contact the church office.
- After the service, we know you’ll want to catch up and have conversations with each other! We encourage you to do much of that outside the building to avoid congestion in the more confined space of the foyer. Please practice ‘social distancing’ as this takes place.
CHILDREN & FAMILY INFORMATION
- Please have a discussion with your kids so they understand the temporary guidelines outlined in this letter. Please keep your children with you while at the church. Please do not allow them to play in any other places. We want to keep all areas that are being used sanitized according to guidelines; please help us by limiting the areas in use during this phase of our re-opening.
- There will be no Kids’ Kourt.
- There will be no nursery staff available at this time. We ask that you avoid allowing your children into the nursery.
- Please prepare an activity bag including crayons, pens, quiet toys, etc. for your children and bring it with you to the service. Packets of kids’ activity pages will be available on a table in the back of the worship center.
- There will be some additional tables at the back of the worship center for those families who have children and would like to sit at a table where kids can work on activity sheets.
GENERAL SAFETY INFORMATION
- If anyone in your household is sick, please stay at home.
- If anyone in your household is at high-risk for serious complications from the virus, we urge you to consider remaining at home as well.
- Ushers will be at the doors – please allow them to open the doors for you.
- Please be aware of others and maintain appropriate space to avoid congestion.
- During this time, there will be no coffee or food items served.
- Hand sanitizing stations will be available at the door and throughout the church, but we encourage you to be prepared by bringing your own hand sanitizer or hand wipes.
- We encourage you to bring your own mask if you choose to wear one. We will have a limited supply of masks available.
- Restrooms: We realize it’s going to be difficult to keep appropriate distance in a smaller space such as our restrooms. We want to continue providing restroom facilities – Please use good judgement and clean up after yourselves! Lysol/Clorox wipes will be available for sanitizing surfaces.
We recognize that everyone has varying personal feelings and opinions about the situation facing us. Please remember to be respectful of others’ level of comfort or concern. Pray that God will bless us with an extra measure of unity as we once again experience the joy of corporate worship!
Even if you aren’t yet able to fellowship in person, please be assured that we will continue to livestream the service via Facebook. Audio recordings of the messages will continue to be posted on the church website early in the week. We encourage you to join us in worshipping and growing through our online services on Sunday and Friday Night Live as well as the small groups, Sunday School, and other opportunities that we are offering online. If you’re not able to access the internet, please contact the church office at 319-524-1090 to discuss your needs and discuss how we can help keep you connected.
We continue to seek the Lord’s guidance and protection as we live and worship through this unique time and we look forward to what He will do in and through our church as we serve Him.
Sincerely,
The Elders
Layne Billings, Brad Culpepper, Kenny Culpepper,
Jeff Dedey, Shawn Whitaker
