Family Church
Time seems to be moving unusually fast these days. Last week, in light of the growing Coronavirus pandemic, the government encouraged for all gatherings to be limited to 250 people or less. Our church made the decision to continue meeting together, and to wait and see. Shortly after our Sunday gathering, the national government restricted all gatherings to 10 people or less. At that time, the leadership prayerfully decided to cancel all campus gatherings and move to house churches, small hubs of church community dedicated to meeting together and carrying out the work of the church throughout the region. Honestly, I was super excited about all of this, as I have been longing to see our church move in this direction for a long time. Not canceling large gatherings per se, but deepening relationships and fostering spiritual life through smaller communities born out of homes and inviting neighbors and walking out the mission of God in our everyday spaces, making all of life sacred. So we redesigned the website. We formed five groups. We created new systems of organization. We mobilized leaders. We readied for the mission.
And then Thursday night happened.
The governor issued a statewide order to stay indoors and restrict all non-essential travel. No more gatherings. The threat of exposure is simply too great to risk. As I’ve talked with other members of the church, members of our leadership cohort, and other pastors, the conclusion we’ve come to is the same:
We do not fear a virus. We fear God, and we follow Jesus. We love him, we trust him, and so we are unafraid of what today or tomorrow may bring. But we also love others. We love the least of these, those who are at risk. And we love the lost, those who do not know Jesus and miss out on the security and hope that he brings. So, at this time, one of the most compassionate, grace-filled things we can do is keep one another safe.
With that, we have decided to cancel house churches for the time being. We hope to restart these if the shelter-in-place order is lifted, but until then, our community will have to learn how to love one another from afar. So, what’s the plan now?
FAMILY CHURCH
We will still upload a short video sermon every week on the website to watch with your family and worship together. Our Kids Church will be putting together resources for your children to go through as well. You can also continue to give online. If you don’t have a family to worship with on Sundays, the Williams family has offered their home up—they will be your family! The burden we share as a community with the ongoing crises is that when your are saved by grace, you are also saved into the family of God. We are your brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. So even though we seek to keep one another safe, we are also there for you if you need it.
CARE TEAM
We are mobilizing a Care Team to check in on people to see if any members have needs like groceries, supplies, or support. If you are able-bodied, healthy, and willing, the best thing our church can do right now is to keep up in contact with one another, to check-in often, to pray for one another, and to encourage one another. If you want to help out with the Care Team, contact Shari Hatcher (careteam@fbccottonwood.org) for more details.
Trusting in Christ for all things, all the time,
Jacob Parodi, Lead Pastor
