Matthews Presbyterian Church issued the following announcement on April 27.
All in-person services and activities are canceled. See below for more information about how you can connect to MPC during this time.
Dear MPC Saints,
This quarantine is becoming a new normal. The staff and the session have been intentional about calling every member of the congregation. From what we can ascertain, everybody is hanging in there as best as possible. Worship services, Bible studies, and daily devotions continue online. Engagements remain strong. Financial giving has also remained strong given the circumstances. Children attend AMP classes and the youth group continues to meet via Zoom. I am very proud of how all of the saints, from the youngest to the oldest, at Matthews Presbyterian have remained engaged and committed. The American church has taken the right to assemble for granted. This virus has taken that right away from us now, but the ties through which the Holy Spirit have bound us are indeed stronger.
We are anxiously anticipating the loosening of social restrictions. When this first started, I wrongly assumed that the virus would pass and we would be given the green light to go back to normal. Like many previous assumptions, I was wrong. Social distancing restrictions are only gradually being loosened. In Governor Cooper’s plan, churches will be allowed to gather in phase two, which will start at least two weeks after May 8. The first Sunday that we could possibly meet again would be May 23.
When we do meet again, we do not know exactly what that will look like. We do know that we will be limited, at least for a while, to fifty people. We will do everything we can to mitigate risk. You will not have touch anything or anybody. (No passing of the peace, no opening doors, no passing offering plates, no coffee socials in the friendship court). We will start meeting with worship and then open other activities and programs, like Sunday school, music groups, children & youth groups, as social restrictions continue to be lifted. We will not be able to offer nursery or Noah’s chapel for at least the first couple of weeks.
We want to be able to accommodate everyone once we meet, so it would help us to know roughly how many people to expect, how many services to plan, etc. We have created a survey and would appreciate your feedback. You can access that survey by contacting the church office. Your feedback on that survey will help us greatly. Please fill that out. We will plan accordingly.
Finally, summer is just around the corner, as are summer mission trips, youth conferences, and VBS. We obviously do not know now what we will be allowed or what will be safe to do. We hope to decide on those activities by mid to late May. Stay tuned. This virus has made a mess of our plans. Yet as we learn more and continue to live in this new normal, we will make the best decisions that we can as quickly as we can.
I am grateful for your patience. I am grateful for your prayers, your generosity, your friendship, and your commitment. We will get through this with God’s help and providence. Hang in there and keep the faith. God is doing a good thing in all of this uncertainty and anxiety. A fundamental part of that good thing is this church. I love it and miss it. We will meet again, friends, and it will be a good day when we do. God bless you all.
Luke
Links to join us virtually during the Coronavirus closure.
- Facebook Live Worship on Sundays at 10:30am
- Daily Devotions at 9am on Facebook
- Sign up for our new Connecting in Christ Ministry: Get to know and support another church member during this time
- Have a youth or child? Make sure you are receiving emails from Sarah Evans.
- Pastor Luke's Minor Prophets Bible Study Facebook Live Wednesdays at 6:30pm
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