Dear Grace Community,
We WILL NOT gather for in-person worship now. I write to explain and share our plans moving forward.
We will now base our decision about worship on the rolling 14-day average percent of positive Covid-19 tests. When this number is at 5% or above, on Monday/Tuesday, we will NOT meet the following Sunday. You can find this data here: As of Tuesday, June 30, the number is at 5.3%.
Early on, we, like others, did our best to decipher data and learn more about the virus. Consistently we read that prolonged exposure to large groups was discouraged, or in other words, worship is a high-risk activity. We also knew that we missed worshiping in person and that you did too. At our June 15 Session meeting we decided to return to in-person worship July 5, and we shared this with you.
As cases in Sedgwick country rose over the last two weeks, we began more conversation. On Sunday, June 28, Session members and physicians in our church gathered on zoom to talk. One of the physicians pointed us to this 14-day average percent of positive tests as a helpful metric.
Our next step was to set a threshold, and we settled on 5%. We made this decision based on information we gleaned from Dr. Janelle Rhyne, an infectious disease specialist in North Carolina. She spoke on a webinar put on by various denominations and church organizations.
The Session recognizes that members of our church can decide how much risk to assume, but we as a governing body also need to decide how much risk to assume for our church. We are comfortable with this 5% rate. We were also assured by several church physicians that the list of precautions we set for in-person worship is strong and appropriate.
For now, we ask that you bear this wait with us, and that you tune in on Sunday for on-line worship. Feel free to contact us, and we will stay in touch.
In Christ,
Catherine Neelly Burton, Senior Pastor
The Grace Session:
Sandy Blaylock
Dennis Buteyn
Darcy Eads
Pam Head
Fred Heismeyer
Dave McIntire
Betsy Ross
Elyse Scholl
Ginny Vincent
Joe Wangombe
Alisa Watkins
JUL