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Preparing to Reopen for In-person Worship

The ongoing news regarding the way the COVID-19 virus continues to proliferate in our state cautions us against activities that will accelerate the spread of the contagion. The latest counsel from health professionals tells us that a return to in-person worship, as well as many other indoor activities, may not happen safely until well into next year. The upcoming “normal” flu season, exacerbated by the continuing presence of the COVID-19 pandemic, will likely expect extra necessary precautions to insure that our worship and other activities do not contribute to the transmission of these viruses to anyone, especially those who have been identified as the most vulnerable.

En años pasados, después de los meses de verano, muchas congregaciones tradicionalmente han llenado sus calendarios, aulas y santuarios con varios ministerios nuevos y programas educativos. Sin embargo, las ultimas noticias sobre la forma en que el virus COVID-19 se sigue proliferando en nuestro estado nos advierte evitar actividades que acelerarán la propagación del contagio. El último consejo de los profesionales de la salud nos dice que el regreso al culto en persona, así como muchas otras actividades en lugares cerrados, puede no ocurrir de forma segura hasta el próximo año. La próxima temporada de gripe “normal”, exacerbada por la continua presencia de la pandemia COVID-19, probablemente nos obligara a tomar precauciones adicionales que serán necesarias para asegurarnos que nuestros cultos y otras actividades no contribuyan a la transmisión de estos virus a nadie, especialmente a aquellos que han sido identificados como más vulnerables.

-Interim Bishop Murray Finck
A Word About Returning to In-person Worship, September 2020

California and Nationwide Guidelines

Communities of Faith Resources

Minneapolis Area Synod 2020 COVID-19 Preparedness Plan

We are committed to providing a safe and healthy office work environment for you and our volunteers.

As part of our continued response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the synod has drafted a COVID-19 Preparedness Plan. The goal of our plan, which follows the CDC and OSHA standards related to COVID-19, is to ensure you understand how we will restore daily operations in a way that mitigates the potential transmission of the Coronavirus or any illness at the office.

As an employee, you will continue to have opportunities for collaboration to shape this plan via staff meetings and one on one checks-ins with Management to ensure a smooth transition back into workspaces.

 

Resuming Care-filled Worship and Sacramental Life During a Pandemic (Ministry Matters)

The Ecumenical Consultation on Protocols for Worship, Fellowship, and Sacraments — an interdisciplinary group of theologians, scientists, physicians, pastors, bishops, and practitioners from United Methodist, Evangelical Lutheran, Episcopal, Pan-Methodist, and Roman Catholic traditions — offers guidance for safe ritual practices for the safety of the general public and for the vitality of Christian congregations. It is unique in its ecumenical range, and is the first to bring experts in liturgical theology into conversation with public health experts.

 

Returning to Church (Wisconsin Council of Churches)

What future we will find ourselves in depends not only on the behavior of the virus, but on the actions of people – as individuals, churches, communities, and governments. The way forward will not be a matter of following a timetable, but of faithfully discerning the signs of the times, and responding accordingly.  It has always been that way for the church: “You have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown….”

 

A Meeting with Dr. Michael Osterholm: The Pandemic and Reopening In-Person Worship (Zoom Recording)

Dr. Osterholm is Regents Professor, McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, a professor in the Technological Leadership Institute, College of Science and Engineering, and an adjunct professor in the Medical School, all at the University of Minnesota. From June 2018 through May 2019, he served as a Science Envoy for Health Security on behalf of the US Department of State. He is also on the Board of Regents at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

 

24 Questions Your Church Should Answer Before People Return (Ken Braddy)

We need to think and plan carefully so we do not endanger people simply because we let our guard down and believed that the Coronavirus crisis had passed. Now, as believers let’s agree to live by faith and not operate in fear, but let’s also agree to be proactive and to act in wisdom towards our members and guests, especially those among us who are most susceptible to becoming infected with COVID-19.

 

Synod and Church Communications

Bishop Erwin’s Response to California Directives on Gathering – May 25, 2020

Our faith and tradition call us to public worship every Sunday—the Lord’s Day—in worship that for us as ELCA Lutherans has come in normal times to presuppose a service of Holy Communion. We are also accustomed to speaking out our faith in liturgical responses and unison prayers, and to singing our praise with glad voices. Gathering in Jesus’ name, we expect to share with our siblings in Christ a greeting of peace. None of these things will be able to be done in the normal ways under the new guidelines, and many of these practices may not be done at all. A return to public worship now will not be a return to the way things were before. 

SWCA, Pacifica, and Sierra Pacific Bishops’ Joint Letter Against Re-Opening for Public Worship – May 22, 2020

It is with concern that we reach out to you today, on the eve of Memorial Day weekend and the last Sunday of Easter, having just witnessed in a televised message by the President of the United States a statement declaring that the nation’s churches should open for public worship this weekend. We understand the strong desire of our people to worship together, particularly on a meaningful weekend like this one. We wish to state for the sake of our church and its people that we believe the advice to re-open this weekend is at odds with the prevailing medical understanding of the course of this virus and the ways to prevent its spread.

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