Onsite Worship to Begin June 28th With Outdoor Services
First Christian Church of Louisville, Kentucky will begin onsite worship services on June 28, 2020.
Following the recommendations of our Medical Advisory Task Group, the Discipleship Team of our church board has determined the safest way for us to return to worship is to start with a series of outdoor services. This approach has many advantages over indoor services, including:
Studies show that outdoor gatherings are safer than indoor gatherings.
Once seated, worshippers will be allowed to remove their masks.
While we will register attendance in case there is a need for contact tracing, there will be no medical checks required for attendees. That said, we do ask that if you have a fever or are showing any symptoms related to Covid-19 that you not attend.
Outdoor worship will give congregation members the ability to fellowship while maintaining a safe social distance from one another.
We will begin with only one service each week, the time of which will be determined in the near future. We will be capping our initial attendance at fifty and you will have to reserve your spot (details on that to come). If the demand calls for it, we will add a second service.
Worship will take place in the middle tier of our parking lot. Each reservation will be for a single parking space and can be shared by up to six people who live in the same household. We will skip every other parking space (they are nine feet apart). Worshippers will need to bring their own chairs and can bring something to provide shade and water to drink. Parking will be restricted to the bottom tier of the lot.
Initially, our outdoor services will be shorter than our usual Sunday services but will include music, prayer, and communion at the very least. As we grow in confidence and comfort with this approach we will consider adding other worship elements including a message/sermon.
Please note, our primary worship service will still be pre-recorded each week and posted online by Saturday at 6:00 p.m. The pre-recorded services will continue to include the sermon and all other elements of worship. We are also exploring the possibility of live-streaming our outdoor service so that those in at-risk demographics can still attend.
In case of inclement weather, we will announce cancelation ASAP and will consider the option of holding the service on an evening later that week.
Of course, in order to provide these services, we will need several volunteers. If you are able to help out, please click here.
While we all look forward to returning to our sanctuary for worship, the above plan allows us to gather sooner and safer than we would have been able to do otherwise. Our Medical Advisory Group and the Discipleship Team will continue to monitor the situation and make changes and recommendations as necessary.
We can't wait to see you soon!