SV Update
8.6.2020

Hi Severns Valley Baptist Church family. 

I hope you all are well and being safe in the current COVID-crisis. Given our circumstances, I thought today I would give you two items of great news. 

First, we are so excited for SV Students as they begin Re-Gathering for worship services! Services will begin on Sunday August 9th at 5:30pm in the Multi-Purpose Room just inside the Main Entrance. 
  
If you go to our website sv.church/students, you can find all the details of the Re-Gathering plus the safety precautions we have in place to protect our students and leaders. 

Second, we are also excited that on August 17th at 6pm we will be Re-Gathering Celebrate Recovery E’town at Severns Valley Baptist Church. 

For those of us in recovery or wanting to begin recovery this is great news. 

For those of you who may not know much about Celebrate Recovery let me explain what CR is. It is a Christ-centered biblically-based recovery ministry. It provides the support, encouragement and accountability we need to deal with issues and struggles we all face.

All of us struggle with something. Our struggles may be minimal or they may be huge. But one thing is certain, we could all use some help from the Lord with those struggles we are facing. 

Here is an important fact – I cannot fix you. Others can’t fix you and even you cannot fix you. Only Jesus can change us, heal us, restore us and renew you and me. 

At CR, Jesus desires to help us with the hurts, hang-ups and habits of our lives. He is our only HOPE of finally finding the real change, the healing and the new beginning we have all desperately longed for. 

On August 17th we will gather for Large Group Worship from 6-7:15pm. 

  • There will only be LARGE GROUP. Open-Share small groups, which would normally follow, will wait to regather at a later date.  
  • We will not have Celebration Place for children or the Landing for teenagers. Please make sure at this time not to bring anyone under the age of 18 with you.
  • We will have safety precautions in place. Everyone will be required to wear a mask so please bring your mask. There will be socially distanced seating. And, we’ll have plenty of sanitizing stations available. 
  • Also, if you feel sick, have a fever or have any COVID-like symptoms please be loving to all of us and stay at home and then go see your health-care provider.

Along with our CR leaders, I am so excited about regathering on August 17th at 6pm. This is what Large Group will look like… 

  • Our CR Praise Team will lead us in worship and praise of our Lord. We have really missed that corporate worship as a forever family. 
  • We will corporately read the biblical 8 Principles and the Serenity Prayer.
  • And, we will have a teaching about recovery from God’s Word or a testimony. 

You may be a member of Severns Valley or another local church. Or, you may live in our city, county or surrounding area. I want to speak to each of your hearts for a quick moment.

During this COVID-crisis, the one thing we all have in common is we deeply need the presence of Jesus in our lives as we battle our struggles.

Every one of us has struggled during this crisis. We have struggled with different things like relationships, fear, boredom, worry, anxiety, isolation, loneliness, depression, pride, self-centeredness, drugs, alcohol, pornography or a host of other issues that have been compounded by this crisis. 

Know this for certain, this crisis did not take Jesus by surprise. He has been there through it all. He has not changed. I don’t know how low you have been during these days. But even if you have been to the bottom of a struggle, Jesus was and is there. He wants to bring you up from the depths of your struggle to the solid ground of living in Christ one-day-at-a-time. That is why we all need Celebrate Recovery in our lives.

Celebrate Recovery E’town is about us finally trusting Jesus. It is about surrendering our lives to him. He is trustworthy! He will heal you. He will restore you. He will renew the relationships in your life. He will deliver you from whatever has been holding you back. Jesus is our HOPE. 

So, on August 17 at 6pm, PLEASE JOIN US FOR CELEBRATE RECOVERY E’TOWN AT SEVERNS VALLEY BAPTIST CHURCH.

I look forward to seeing each of you then.

Pastor Ray