UPDATE: FEBRUARY 16, 2021:
Sunday School is getting ready to resume on March 7th at 9:30am! Click here to see an up-to-date list of Sunday School classes that will resume!
ORIGINAL LETTER FROM MARCH 2020
Dear Church Family,
We are living in unprecedented days. Our staff and leadership have been meeting together, praying together, and trying to make decisions to best navigate the waters as we move forward. We know that one of our core commitments as a church is that we are a people who love others. We believe that the best way to do that is to try to comply with the recommendations set forth by our government. This past week they urged groups not to gather in groups of more than 10 people. That means we have to evaluate what we do from a Sunday worship standpoint. We’ve prayed and sought godly counsel, and decided that we’re going to move our worship service to an online only format starting this Sunday. We’ll try our best to have that posted at 10:45am each Sunday. We encourage you to gather around the computer and worship with your family. We’re going to have our music, our missions moment, and our message from the Word. So gather with your family and worship with us on Sunday mornings.
We’ve also made the difficult decision that we’re going to suspend all church activities during this time. We will re-visit this decision each week, but in the meantime, for the foreseeable future, all church activities have been canceled.
I know some of you are wondering: what do I do, how can I help, what do I need to do to be a part of what our church is trying to do. Well, we want you to stay connected. Here’s how you can do that.
We want you to stay connected in prayer. Certainly our nation, our city, our state, and our world needs prayer. God can intervene in this at any time He chooses to do so. We want you to pray and intercede on behalf of our world that God would actually intervene at this time.
We also want you to stay connected to the Word of God. The Word of God is the way God speaks to us. We talk to Him through prayer and He talks to us through His Word. We want you to hear from God during this time. Stay connected to the Word of God.
We want you to stay connected with your families. A lot of children are home from school; they’re not involved in extra-curricular activities. This has given us a time, even though we hadn’t planned it, for us to slow down. Engage with your children and your grandchildren. Play a board game. Play outside. Have spiritual conversations with them. Connect with them in a way you didn’t have time to do before. It’s going to be an incredible opportunity for us.
We also want you to stay connected to the others around you. Part of what we’re experiencing is isolation and few people like being isolated. Here are some ways you can stay connected with others. You can make phone calls, you can send texts or emails, you can send a card or a letter to the Fellowship church family, and the people in your Sunday School class.
Also, think about this as an opportunity to live on mission. One way you can do that is by thinking about your neighbors who aren’t connected, who are unchurched, and reach out to them with a phone call, email, text, letter or card. If they can’t leave their house, offer to do errands for them or pick up a prescription. It may be something we can help with at the office as well. Live the hope and encouragement that comes from Jesus and share it with them.
Finally, we want to encourage you. Don’t panic during this time. Know that God is on the throne. He is in control. We want you to continue doing life as normally as possible. We want you to continue giving to the church. Obviously we’re not meeting in person here, but there are 3 ways you can contribute to the ongoing ministry of the church. One way is online giving. Go to fellowshipbaptist.org and click on the tab titled “online giving” and follow the prompts. We will post a video this week explaining how you can give online. You can also mail in your offering if you’re not comfortable working with the online system. And lastly, you can bring it by the church office (Monday-Friday 9:00am-5:00pm).
We’re going to do our best to keep the office open. Don’t hesitate to contact the office at 562-2040 or email serve@fellowshipbaptist.org if you have a need or know someone who has a need. We’ll see how we can help. Remember our food pantry is open as long as we have food. We already feed a number of individuals and families from the community each month and are ready to help as many as we can.
I want to close by letting you know that we love you, we can’t wait to see you again soon. Here are some words that God has comforted my heart with this week. It’s found in Philippians 4:6-7: Do not worry about anything but by everything through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests and petitions to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Again, we love you. Hope to see you soon. Until then keep “Loving God, Loving Others, Living on Mission.”
Pastor Clint