St. Thomas Assembly of God COVID-19 Updates
Updated March 1, 2021
March 1, 2021
Beginning March 7th, 2021 we will no longer be requiring masks for entry and exit of our building. If you feel more comfortable wearing a mask, please continue to do so. We ask that you still maintain social distance to keep everyone safe and please attempt to limit congregating before and after services to help keep everyone safe. We will continue, as we have from the beginning, our strict cleaning and sanitizing procedures. We also will continue to have sanitizing stations located throughout the building. Our goal is to maintain safe in-person services and we will continue to monitor the Covid-19 cases in our area and make adjustments as necessary. As always, if you do not feel comfortable worshipping with us in person, you can join us online every Sunday at 10:30am!
_________________________________
PAST UPDATES:
January 16, 2021
Beginning January 17th, 2021 we will resume our in person services. Wednesday Night Family Night will also resume Wednesday, January 20th. Masks will be required when not seated with your family during any of our in person events or services. We ask that you wear your mask when entering/exiting the building or when not seated safely during service. Please attempt to limit congregating before and after services to help maintain distance and keep everyone safe. We will continue, as we have from the beginning, our strict cleaning and sanitizing procedures. We also will continue to have sanitizing stations located throughout the building. Our goal is to maintain safe in-person services and we will continue to monitor the Covid-19 cases in our area and make adjustments as necessary. As always, if you do not feel comfortable worshipping with us in person, you can join us online every Sunday at 10:30am!
_________________________________
December 31, 2020
As we head into the New Year, we know that COVID-19 and the pandemic remain a fluid situation. Due to the potential spread of the virus after holiday gatherings and a positive test result within our staff, we will be holding our Sunday services online for the next two weeks. Services will be available Sunday mornings at 10:30am on Facebook and our website.
Our in-person services will resume Sunday, January 17th, and our Wednesday Night Family Nights will resume Wednesday, January 20th. The church offices will be closed until further notice, however, if you have an emergency please contact us via our Facebook page or digital connect card available on our website. The pastoral staff will also be monitoring their voicemail boxes. Thank you for your continued trust in the church leadership as we navigate this together. We hope you have a safe and happy new year and look forward to safely meeting together again in person very soon.
_________________________________
November 17, 2020
Effective this coming Sunday, November 22, masks will be required when not seated with your family during both our 8:30am and 10:30am services. We ask that you wear your mask when entering/exiting the building or when not seated safely during service. Please attempt to limit congregating before and after services to help maintain distance and keep everyone safe. We will continue, as we have from the beginning, our strict cleaning and sanitizing procedures. We also will continue to have sanitizing stations located throughout the building. Our goal is to maintain safe in-person services and we will continue to monitor the Covid-19 cases in our area and make adjustments as necessary. As always, if you do not feel comfortable worshipping with us in person, you can join us online every Sunday at 10:30am!
For all of the latest updates, continue to check our website or our free planning center app which is available on the Apple and Google App Stores. There you can find all of our events and the most up to date information about the things happening at our church!
_________________________________
June 18, 2020
Effective this coming Sunday, June 21st, masks are no longer required. As always, please use your best judgment and continue wearing one if you feel more comfortable doing so. We will also continue to have hand sanitizing stations located at each of our entrances for your convenience.
We are also excited to announce the return of our 9:30am Sunday School Classes, 10:30am Nursery and 10:30am Kids Ministry beginning Sunday, July 5th! We have taken extra precautions to ensure a safe and clean environment for our kids and have updated our check-in procedures to create a touch-free experience.
We are also so excited to announce the return of our Wednesday Night Family Nights beginning July 8th! In order to continue to keep everyone safe, and we will not be offering a meal at 5:30pm, but at 6:15pm the van will be available for our youth students in grades 6-12, and our classes will be starting at the normal 6:30pm time each week.
For all of the latest updates, continue to check our website or our free planning center app which is available on the Apple and Google App Stores. There you can find all of our events and the most up to date information about the things happening at the church!
_________________________________
May 26, 2020
We are happy to announce that in-person services will resume Sunday, June 7th at 8:30am and 10:30am.
We are preparing the church for your arrival. Sunday services will resume with certain restrictions in place for the safety and well-being of everyone.
Initially, we will only have one hour Sunday Morning worship services. There will be no kid’s ministry, nursery, childcare, Sunday School, youth or Wednesday night activities.
Our 10:30 AM Sunday morning service will continue to be streamed live at www.stthomasag.com.
We have arranged the sanctuary and Family Ministry Center seating to accommodate a 6’ social distancing separation. Attendees are required to sit with people from their own household and maintain a 6 foot distance from other families or individuals. Families are asked to have their children sit with them until we reopen our nursery and kid’s ministry departments.
Common areas and gathering spaces of the building will be closed. This includes the coffee area, lobby and other places where people usually congregate.
To help prevent the spread of infection, we ask everyone to wear a face mask as you enter and exit the building. During the service, after you have been seated masks are not required. Please bring your own mask, as they will not be provided. Infants and toddlers are not required to wear a mask.
We care about your health and safety. If you are in a high-risk group, or you are hesitant to attend for any reason, we encourage you to continue attending online.
If you or anyone in your family is sick or congested, or if you have had any contact with anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 14 days, please do not attend physical service and join us online instead.
At this time volunteer position will remain on hold. Ushers, Greeters, Sunday School Teachers and Worship Teams will be phased back in as restrictions change. We will be contacting specific volunteer teams with scheduling updates in the next few weeks.
Hand sanitizer will be available in the lobby. We encourage frequent use.
We encourage you to continue giving online. A giving box will be available in the back of the Sanctuary and Family Ministry Center. We ask that you drop off your contributions before or after services. Our giving kiosk will be unavailable until further notice, however you may still give online via our website or the Church Center App.
We aim to provide an environment that is clean, safe and mindful of health needs in preparation for a non-touch experience. All commonly used surfaces will be sanitized before and after each service.
We will be reevaluating our safety measures weekly. As we feel it is safe, we will adjust our restrictions accordingly.
The distancing has given us a greater appreciation for our church community. We look forward to seeing you all again soon.
A personal note from Pastor Josh:
I am so excited for all of us to come together and return to the house of the Lord! I would love to just throw open the doors with zero restrictions and throw all caution to the wind. Wisdom then tells me a more cautious approach to reopening is very necessary. Much like my internal struggle, I know there are vastly different opinions on what are safe and acceptable practices for reopening. I want to encourage everyone to have grace with each other and work together as we navigate this transition. Let me share a quote with you from a publication I’ve been reading throughout this pandemic: Charles Smith says, “One of the most challenging aspects of the COVID-19 recovery will be disagreements over acceptable post-COVID social norms between friends and family. Hurt feelings will abound if we’re not careful. Extend lots of grace. Everyone is different.” I feel like this is a great opportunity for the body of Christ to come together with love and understanding as the family of God.
Please don’t hesitate to contact the church office if you have any further questions. We can’t wait to worship together soon!