PRACTICAL PLANS IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19
In developing these COVID 19 guidelines, our goal is not to decide issues of science or medicine, or to take a side in the political and cultural wars. Our goal is that these guidelines create an opportunity for members of New City to love one another and bear one another’s burdens. Our desire is that our COVID guidelines would encourage New City members, guests, and visitors to feel safe in joining us in corporate worship, where those who are weary from the many conflicts of this present evil age can rest in the finished work of Christ.
A great deal of thought and prayer have gone into these guidelines. They take into consideration what we believe are the generally accepted and best practices and recommendations of experts in the medical community. We recognize that almost daily new things are learned about COVID 19 with new statistics, studies, and data. We are acutely aware that we are not omniscient. These guidelines also reflect our humble acknowledgment that there are simply things that we do not know, and reflect our best effort to make reasoned judgments to protect the health and safety of all our members and visitors and to preserve the peace and purity of the church.
New City will continue to re-evaluate the changing guidance of medical experts along with guidance from federal, state, and local health officials. Above all else Our COVID 19 guidelines are intended to be temporary. It is our utmost desire to use our sanctuary space to its maximum capacity when circumstances allow.
We humbly ask that as you consider and follow these guidelines, you are led with a Spirit of genuine love and charity for your brothers and sisters in Christ. Please pray for New City, our Session and leaders, and each of our members, as we write this new chapter of our story.
New City will worship in the main Sanctuary with two services at 9am and 11am, to allow for proper social distancing.
Nursery (up to 36 months) and Kids’ Bible Time (preschoolers) will be available at both worship services:
Masks:
At the 9 am service: Masks will be required throughout the duration of the service.
At the 11 am service: Masks will be required during singing and moving around, and strongly encouraged throughout the rest of the service.
Seating will be limited to every other pew. The pews not used at the 9 am service will be used for the 11 am service.
Social distancing in the pews will be observed for members not of the same household (6 feet apart).
Ushers will actively be engaged in helping worshippers find seats.
There will be no passing of the plate for offertory. Offerings can still be made electronically or sent by check to the church.
Communion will be served with pre-packaged bread and wine, and worshippers will have access to a communion station close to their seats.
Windows will be opened or cracked throughout the building for fresh air.
The Pinecrest Lobby will be available as a Cry Room, where parents can take their little ones during the service. There are large windows into the sanctuary and speakers will be installed.
We will limit our use of paper and will distribute information via electronic devices as much as possible; No disposable cups/drinkware permitted in the Sanctuary. Coffee and water will be permitted in the sanctuary only in non-disposable drinkware with lids.
The Gathering Place will be our designated space for fellowship after both services. Coffee and other drinks will be made available. Masks are strongly encouraged when you are not drinking. However, for those who for health reasons, are not ready to personally interact inside with other people, multiple exits exist on every side of the building to make this possible.
Pews and Restrooms will be sanitized before and in between services.
Restrooms will offer touch-free soap dispensers, paper towels, and hands-free exits.
Hand sanitation stations will be placed all over the building on every level.
Water fill stations will be installed in place of water fountains.
We will continue to live-stream our worship services for those who are not able to attend yet in person.
Please adhere to these guidelines from the CDC if you are showing any symptoms or if you have tested positive for COVID-19.
The above measures make up our revised COVID-19 guidelines, however, they are subject to change upon review of changing circumstances or developments.
PERSPECTIVE FOR OUR CONGREGATION
Worship of the Triune God is the reason New City exists. By God’s grace, we have been set apart as a people to worship Him. There is no higher calling for a human being who is made in God’s image than to bring him praise and worship. We confess that our chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
Worship finds its fullest expression in the Church. It is in corporate worship where every week the Lord himself invites us into His presence. There, He dwells with us, His covenant people. He welcomes us, He assures us of our pardon, He hears our prayers, He speaks to us from his Living Word, He washes us in the waters of baptism, and He feeds us at His table. This is why public worship on the Lord’s Day is the lifeblood of New City.
As we entered 2020, we eagerly anticipated moving into our new building and writing a new chapter in the story of New City. At that time, phrases like “COVID-19” and “social distancing” were not in our vocabulary. And yet, in His good and wise providence, God has had different plans for 2020. From our perspective, 2020 has unexpectedly been a year of pandemics, lockdowns, physical separation, economic struggles, and divisive politics. In many ways, it has been an exhausting year – mentally, physically, and spiritually.
Unlike the world, we remain united as the Body of Christ. This unity is not a superficial unity or a unity based on race, sex, ethnicity, politics, or common interests. It is a genuine unity – with each other and with Christ – from the Father, by the Son, and through the Spirit, that will last into eternity.
Despite this unity, the Church is still entangled with controversies that threaten to divide. The Apostle Paul addressed the contentious issue of Christians eating food that had been sacrificed to idols. Some Christians felt at ease eating this food, while others felt the food was defiled and were bound by their consciences to abstain. The question “to eat or not to eat” was a real controversy that caused real division between these groups and was causing some to stumble in their faith. The Apostle Paul addressed this problem not by deciding which group was “right” but reminding these groups to build each other up in love. Food was not the issue. The issue was to not burden another Christian’s conscience and cause them to stumble.
In the Bible, we read about giving up our rights to bear each other’s burdens and to build each other up in love. We know there are a variety of opinions about COVID-19 that touch on political, social, medical, and theological issues. While we encourage New City members to be discerning and form their own views on these matters, we know that contentious issues like these, when there is no love, will rip a church apart.
We are a house of prayer for all peoples. The urgent need for members of New City, for our new neighbors in Ferndale, and for our neighbors, friends and co-workers all throughout the Detroit region, is to hear the good news of a Savior who came to rescue us from the chaos and destruction of sin. If nothing else, this season of COVID-19 has revealed and continues to reveal humanity’s desperate need for a Savior.
If there is any stumbling block at New City, it should never be our personalities or politics, but only the offense of the Cross. Though we may have different views on the many issues related to COVID- 19, we confess the same Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins and was raised for our justification. And this same Lord Jesus died and was raised for the brother or sister who may take a different view of things. Satan and the spirit of this present evil age would have us descend into tribalism, factions, and dissentions. The Spirit of Christ would have us unite around our One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism.
Eventually the issue of masks and social distancing will fade away. Many things about this season of COVID-19 will be a distant memory. But one thing that will endure, particularly in this new chapter of the story of New City, is how well we loved each other in these trying times. Our greatest hope and prayer is that God would preserve New City in the Spirit of true Christian peace.
Members of the Covid-19 Strategy Team:
Maris Bakker
Eric Bonner
Michael Bossenbroek
Michael Duffy
Amanda Sternberg
James Sutton