Guidelines for Attending Worship
If you answer yes to any of these questions, please do not attend an in-person worship service:
Have you been in close contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the past 14 days?
Are you experiencing a cough, shortness of breath, or a sore throat?
Have you had a fever in the past 48 hours?
Have you had a new loss of taste or smell?
Have you had vomiting or diarrhea in the past 24 hours?
If you can be considered medically fragile or at elevated risk of contracting COVID-19 because of your age or an underlying health condition, please consider continuing to shelter at home and joining our worship service online. If you aren’t sure whether you’re at high risk, please ask your primary health care provider. Public worship services are generally considered a moderate- to high-risk environment.
Preregistration required for worship attendance
If you plan to attend a Sunday morning service, preregister by clicking on REGISTRATION (which will take you to a Google Forms site) or by calling the church office and leaving a message. Please provide us with your name and the number of people who will attend.
Preregistration is important for two reasons. It lets us know how many people to expect at worship, so we can prepare our seating plan, and it provides a record of attendance in case we need to notify attendees of an inadvertent COVID-19 exposure in worship.
Please register no later than Friday of each week.
Practices for worship
Maintain six-foot social distancing from anyone who isn’t a member of your immediate household. Greet one another with a wave, a bow, or a nod, but without any physical contact (hugs, handshakes, etc.)
Masks will be required for all worshipers other than toddlers. You may provide your own mask, but we will also have an adequate supply of single-use masks.
Wait at the door to be seated by an usher. You will also be ushered from your seat at the conclusion of the service Bulletins will be placed in pews before worship. Please take your bulletin with you when you leave. Pews are marked to assure adequate space for the center aisle, and distancing between seats. Please observe the marks.
Restroom safety
Only one person or family may occupy a restroom at a time.
Wash your hands for 20 seconds.
Hand sanitizer will be available outside the restrooms.
Singing precautions
Singing is suspected of being an especially effective way of spreading the coronavirus. Singing expels a fine mist of moist breath with great force, that can propel viruses up to 16 feet and isn’t well contained by masks.
Music leaders in the service will not wear masks while they sing, but will stay 16 feet from the nearest worshipers. The congregation will remain masked, and may listen and meditate on the hymn texts or sing along quietly.