The Well Town-hall meeting – June 25, 2020
transcript
Pastor Al Johnson: I’m going to go ahead and get started. Thank you, everyone, for joining us. As we have shared on our blog, our purpose in meeting is to discuss and answer any question you may have as we plan on re-opening. If you have questions before we start the Q&A please throw them in the chat and I will answer them as I see them or towards the end when we have a time of Q&A.
First of all, I want to say that this isn’t us giving an edict of exactly what is going to happen. This is really the beginning of the conversation of what re-entry could look like. In our questions, I want to see if there are any fears that we can address. If anyone is hesitant, we want you to tell us to help address all our fears or worries with one another.
We also want to be gracious to one another. If you have a question, even if you feel everyone else feels one way, do not be afraid to speak up, we want you to be heard, we’re all a part of the body of Christ. And that we would be especially gracious to each other to address what we are feeling. Be gracious, not just on this call, but after. Most importantly, we want honesty. This serves us no purpose if we are aren’t honest with each other, both of how we are feeling or if we know how others in our families or community groups are feeling. Without further ado, let’s get into the nitty-gritty.
Today Houston has announced they are almost at capacity for ICU units and we in San Antonio are not far behind. There’s so much going on even in our community. We have people in our church that have been exposed and people who are sick and are concerned they may be sick with Covid-19 currently. We’re all over the map, but what we do know is true, is the numbers are filling up and the hospitals are too. Even the requirements in our city may change in the next two weeks. Things are changing very quickly. Our city might change its stance even as we speak here today.
The big idea: How do we get back together?
I deeply miss you all, and I’m anxious to meet with you soon. Here’s how we are thinking about it:
1. We want to worship Jesus well in what we decide moving forward by using wisdom and discernment in all things. We want to think about what we’re allowed to do, what we can do, and what is wise.
2. In doing so, care well for everyone as we plan to re-open and what it may entail. We want to make the best plans possible. This is why your questions are valuable because they will help us see what we are missing.
3. This also is connected to and a result of the first, which is we want to adhere and follow guidelines given. We will try to have answered all the possible scenarios.
For returning to Sunday morning gatherings, we tentatively have the date July, 26th. This is subject to change, we put this on the calendar just as cases were beginning to rise and now we see they are continuing to rise. We are watching the number of new cases and will know more before the 26th. We saw cases rose two weeks after Memorial Day we and so it follows logically that possibly cases will climb again two weeks after July 4th. We want to observe whether or not it happens as we pray and consider re-entry.
There are still a lot of unknowns, in our church, we have nurses and others in healthcare are seeing just how quickly things are changing. Many churches are currently closing that had previously reopened. There are currently some disagreements between our governor and our city officials about how they want to handle this situation. As things play out we may be in the position where our city has different rules than other cities in Texas. We want to be in the know, and communicate this to everyone in our church.
On June 30th I will be on a phone call with the mayor to address what we are experiencing and how to best move forward. If anyone in our church has any questions for the mayor, send them in and I will do my best to pass them on. This will give us the most information about how can wisely reopen as a church.
As many of you know, we are postponing our nights of prayer for at least the next two weeks, but we are providing an at-home prayer guide so we would continue to pray as a church. Just because we cannot meet physically, we have the technology and we have the Holy Spirit inside us, we can still pray together on behalf of our city.
When we decide to meet here are some things we will implement. As of today, these may be subject to change:
Here’s the first question to answer: Are masks required? As of right now in TX religious institutions are exempt from city ordinances for wearing masks. We are just trying to look towards wisdom. At this point, we do not have a recommendation we are endorsing. We are not going to discourage them ever, but we are not sure if are highly recommending them or not. We are still considering masks because we want to best serve our people.
Importantly, when we return, we are upgrading our sanitation at SABA. Everything will follow the state’s guidelines found here: Churches and Places of Worship Minimum Standard Health Protocols
• We will have hand Sanitizer throughout the building.
• Seating arrangements will be altered to create space between rows adhering to guidelines.
• Kids Ministry will be closed when we begin to meet again but we will leave one room open for parents if they have babies needing to be changed.
• When we open, we will be starting with at least two services, this will allow the correct social distancing for the services - additionally we will be sanitizing high touch points in between services.
• Greeters will be the only ones opening doors to the building and ushers to the auditorium.
• Ushers will also be leading people to their seats to make the process safe and easy.
• All families can, of course, sit together but will sit two seats apart from other families.
• We will not be providing coffee at the beginning because we want to limit high touch places within the church. Please feel free to bring coffee, I’d love to encourage you to support your local coffee shop and bring it in.
• We are walking through possibilities of a no-contact communion, but as of right now we will not be engaging in communion. We are trying not to be legalists, but we are also not trying to be foolish. This is challenging for all us and we are not making this decision lightly or without counsel. We are asking for grace as we do what we believe to be the best way with the information we have to care for our church.
• We will continue to pre-record sermons until children’s ministry is up and running. This will allow if one parent is at our service, the other spouse can watch the same sermon at the same time and so there is no delay for both parties to engage in church on Sunday mornings. If parents or anyone else is unable to attend the service feel uncomfortable to join, the Weekly at-home worship guide will still be made available.
With all the being said, we are daily monitoring the situation in our city and on July 16th we will have our next town hall when we will announce whether or not we will be returning for service on July 26th.
Q&A:
Q: Have we considered live streaming services on Sunday?
A: We do not currently have the equipment to pull it off. The high demand for live streaming equipment when the pandemic began has made it hard to find affordably. Also, on the surface live streaming appears easier, but in truth, live services are very tricky, many churches are abandoning live services because logistically you are more at the mercy of internet, and it just creates more points of failure, but if we decide to extend the time before we start meeting in person, we will revamp the process in which we record and the whole at-home worship service.
Q: Is the plan for our Night of Prayer subject to change also?
A: Over the next two weeks we will be looking at the best means of re-entry for Night of Prayer. NEBC has begun to require masks during singing for their services and so we want to consider how to best honor our hosts. We do however plan is to resume Night of Prayer before we re-begin Sunday services as a means of gauging interest and if our church feels comfortable meeting in person. After the meeting with the mayor on the 30th, we will know more.
Q: Will there be temperature tests before entering SABA?
A: It’s not currently on our list, but we are considering it. If we did it, we would need to have accurate ways of testing temperature. We don’t want to do it only to give people a sense of safety, we want people to be truly safe. We would highly consider this for children, but until then we are doing the best we can with the most accurate information.
Finally, I want you all to know this: this is not the worst thing that could happen. In a lot of ways, it feels like it is. I long to be with you all. To share communion with you. We were not made to social distance or to isolate, but my encouragement is this: wherever you are feeling the pressure, wherever you are finding difficulty in this time, the pressure is the invitation to come meet with Jesus. He is stripping you of normalcy to reveal that you were always made to dependent on him. If we are experiencing anything in this nation currently it is the awareness that we are not in control. We are meant to run to Jesus, process with Jesus think through how Jesus would want us to live in this time. How we respond in this time is what will be remembered about the church, not when we come back. It’s going to be how did we respond in love with one another. That is where you are going to either rejoice and be proud in a godly way, or regretful if in this season you respond in a way that is ungodly, or harmful, or even just flippant towards others. Twenty years from now, let us look back without shame over this season. How we look, act, and walk like Jesus though this is what will be remembered. I want to encourage you all to continue faithfully. One day, Jesus will come back and there will be no more sickness or tears and because that day is coming it does not matter how long this lasts. Even when we do gather as a church, it is just an imitation of what we are truly longing for. Remember this, to have endurance in the now.
If you have questions, email info@thewellsa.org
And remember the next Town-hall meeting will be on July 16th