Services Will Resume Starting May 17, 2020
For two months we have not been able to attend worship services together at St Paul’s due to the State of Indiana’s Executive Order concerning the Covid-19 virus. On Friday, May 1st, Indiana Governor Holcomb issued a revised Executive Order that allows us, within certain sanitation measures and still-mandated distancing requirements, to physically gather once again as a congregation for worship services.
We will resume our worship services on Sunday, May 17th with one service at 9:30 A.M. Our first worship service with communion will be held on May 24th.
The State of Indiana strongly recommends that those who are 65 years of age and older and individuals with known high-risk medical conditions (diabetes, asthma, weakened immune system due to cancer treatments or chronic lung disease) should not attend at this time due to a higher risk factor of contracting the virus.
We will continue to provide recorded worship services on the St Paul’s website (stpaulsbremen.church) for worshipping from home. Please note that beginning with the May 17th worship service, taping will be done live on Sundays. This means that the Sunday service will not be posted on the website until the Monday following the Sunday service. You can also watch “Worship Anew” on TV channel 46 at 11:00 A.M.. It is our hope that, based on the State of Indiana schedule for returning things back to “normal” that everyone will be able to worship together after July 4th.
Changes In How Our Services Are Conducted
Adult Bible class and children’s Sunday School will NOT resume at this time while we continue to adhere to State of Indiana Executive Order.
- Only the main entrance to the church will be open for church services.
- Maintain a “social separation” distance of at least 6 feet from others before, during, and after worship service. This means that seating will be in every other pew (pews not available for seating will be marked). Families sitting together in a pew can have family members sitting closer than six feet apart, but 6 feet separation is needed from the last person in a family to the next individual, couple or family. Please do not make physical contact (shaking hands or other contact) with other service attendees.
- Please bring and use hand sanitizer when entering the church.
- Please consider wearing a face mask once you enter the church.
- Worship service bulletins will be available on tables in the narthex before you enter the center aisle doors into the nave/seating area. Please DO NOT place bulletins back on these tables after the worship service is over. Please take them home with you. Worship service bulletins will contain all hymns being sung during the service.
- At the end of the worship service, dismissal will be one pew a time, alternating from one side to the other, the same as what is done at weddings, maintaining social separation in the center aisle and narthex.
- During communion services, we will use the “continuous” approach to the Lord’s Supper, with individuals approaching the pastor(s) at the center of the communion rail. Please receive the communion wafer by cupping your open palms upward so pastor can drop the wafer into them. You may then place the wafer in your mouth, consume it and take a wine cup from the communion wine tray. Wine cups will be spaced in the tray with an open space in between each cup and an open row in between rows of wine cups. Please touch and take only one wine cup. After taking the Lord’s Supper, place the communion cup in a basket at the side aisle as you return to your pew.
- Offerings can be placed in an “offering box” that will be placed in the narthex. Your offering may be placed there before or after worship service, since offering plates will not be distributed during the worship service.
We are planning a single “Festival Worship Service” at 9:30 A.M. on June 7th in Easter celebration. There will NOT be a “Son”rise worship service or a breakfast before the Festival Worship Service. Please join us in celebration of our Risen Savior.
We look forward to resuming our corporate worship as the Covid-19 virus recedes, being able to do so while fellowshipping with one another. Please continue your prayers for our leaders as difficult decisions are made and for the first response and medical teams as they continue to help those in need.