Journey Family,
Starting tomorrow both our 9 and 10:45 services will be live streamed. We also will be meeting at Journey. You can join us in person or join us through the live stream. The live stream can be found on Facebook (Follow our page named Journey Elgin or click the link below)
https://www.facebook.com/journeyelgin/?ref=bookmarks
or YouTube (Follow our page named Journey Elgin Church or click the link below)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIHocqn2eHCUKZMSxoWLSWg
We are obviously dealing with unique and challenging times. There is clearly a risk from this new virus our society now has to account for. Also, the reaction to this virus is causing and being used to cause division. Division and disunity are powerful tools the enemy uses to attack the Body of Christ. Every pastor and church I know are struggling with how best to move forward in the current circumstances. This event will pose a huge challenge for all churches and many will be overcome by the division that will result. With all of this being said, I wanted to briefly explain why we are slowly opening tomorrow.
First, I know that not everyone will agree this is the right time to open. I understand this completely. I don’t know when the perfect time to open is. There are those who think we should wait until a vaccine is available and there are those who think we should have been meeting a month ago. I understand there is a risk in opening. I have always seen this pandemic as a new risk that we are going to be dealing with for the rest of our lives, just as we all continue to have to deal with the Flu that caused a pandemic in 1918. I believe we needed to take extensive measures to keep our health systems from being overwhelmed and thankfully we have been able to do that. Our health systems are much better equipped now than two months ago. Again, this does not mean that there is no risk in meeting. We are letting you decide when the risk is low enough for you and your family. This will be different for everyone. You are not a weak person if you are not ready to meet in person and you are not brave or strong just because you are ready to gather in person. There are so many factors that play into this decision. Your family is the best authority to determine when you will join us again in person.
We all have to understand that every family connected with Journey will have differing thoughts on this and they are not right or wrong. If we start treating those with differing opinions as the enemy our church will be torn apart. Thankfully, we can choose to worship together and respect each other’s decisions.
Secondly, this means we need to move forward responsibly. Tomorrow morning when you enter the building please wash your hands or use some of the sanitizer provided. When you enter the worship area, sit with your family (we have removed some chairs so we are a little more spread out). We will not have children’s worship at this time so bring your kids into worship with you. Please be smart and respectful and don’t assume everyone wants a hug.
Finally, we are trusting you to make the best decision for you and your family. If you are more at risk, please worship with us from the comfort of your living room. My prayer is that through this pandemic we will grow more unified in spite of our many differing opinions. We can all disagree on the perfect path forward (because there is no perfect path forward) and still be unified in Christ. Let us show respect for each other as we all move forward through these chaotic times and hold on to the unity found in Christ.