SV Update
7.16.2020
Hello church family,
In today’s update we want to share with you information about plans our Staff and Church Council are working on regarding “Phases to Re-Gather.”
When we first were confronted with COVID-19 we took the early steps to protect our church members and help to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Our Purpose Statement is to… Love God | Love People | Make Disciples
Our plan to accomplish this purpose is four fold:Worship – Meeting corporately as a church and living a lifestyle of worship individually.
Community – Community is best defined as belonging to one another. It is best achieved through our Small Groups both On-Campus and Off-Campus.
Serving – Serving is something that Jesus taught and demonstrated for His disciples. All who call Jesus their Savior should be serving as He taught and lived.
Discipleship – Discipleship means to help people grow spiritually. We accomplish this through many different ministries at SV. Mainly through our Smalls Groups, but also through specific studies.
This pandemic has affected how we go about accomplishing our Purpose.
- We have had to move to online only Worship Services.
- We have moved all our Small Groups, Community, to Virtual Small Groups.
- We have had to move from the mindset of let’s gather to go out and corporately Serve to the mindset of how individuals and families can serve. The church becomes the conduit in helping connect people to serving opportunities.
- Discipleship – We concluded our Core Class “I Will” online. We had to suspend all of our Topical Studies due to the pandemic.
The pandemic has dramatically changed how we are striving to: Love God | Love People | Make Disciples
We, the Staff and Church Council, are committed to find ways we can continue to accomplish our Purpose. The same four fold plan is in effect. But, the ways we plan to do those things will look greatly different. None of us know what tomorrow will look like. It would be easy to just press the pause button, or call “Freeze” like we did as children playing the outdoor game “Freeze Tag.” But, that’s not what God has called us to do.
Let us not forget how Paul continued to do what God called him to do while being in prison. Jail bars didn’t stop him from:
- Loving God – Worshipping His Savior
- Loving People – Serving others
- Making Disciples – Sharing the Gospel with those who were holding him, teaching individuals, and the churches he helped establish
Paul had to change his methods while he was quarantined. But, his purpose didn’t change. We need to take the example of Paul and apply it to our lives and the church as well. Just because we are going through a pandemic, our purpose hasn’t changed. How we accomplish or make plans to achieve our purpose will look different.
We are working on Phases to Re-Gather in…
- Worship – We are not satisfied with having only one worship service. We are making plans to move to 2 worship services again. A key factor in providing 2 worship services is having a plan for children birth through 2yrs old. We are also looking at how Celebrate Recovery Worship can Re-Gather.
- Small Groups – We are thankful for what is happening in our Virtual Small Groups. But, we need to look at ways we can meet in person both on and off campus, while continuing to observe: social distancing, wearing masks and disinfecting/sanitizing our building.
- Serving – We will continue to share with you opportunities for yourself, your family and opportunities for your Small Groups. We are looking for new opportunities presented to us because of the pandemic. We will be sharing more about these opportunities very soon.
- Discipleship – Our Fall will look much different than how it has looked. It will be much more streamlined. We are working now on plans for the Fall and will be sharing more soon.
In the next few weeks we will be providing to you, in written form, our Phases to Re-Gathering. We want you to know and understand the next steps, and the obstacles, we must navigate in moving forward.
We continue to be greatly encouraged by:
- Our increased attendance in worship. Don’t forget to “Save a Seat“.
- The faithfulness of people attending our Virtual Small Groups.
- The generosity of our members in giving their tithes and offerings.
- The encouragement given to our Staff and Church Council by our church family.
We look forward to seeing you this Sunday in worship.
Your Staff and Church Council
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