Reopen?
Dear CCC Family,
We have been meaning to give an update on what the future might hold for CCC as our country and state begin the reopening process. The President’s announcement on Friday pushed that update forward. If you haven’t heard, this past Friday, May 22, President Trump called houses of worship “essential services” and urged governors to allow them to re-open “right now”. Here is one article outlining his statement. This is all very sudden and no one is quite sure yet what kind of impact this has on local government and policies. Here is what our thoughts are as of now and how we intend to carefully move forward.
To begin, we always want to anchor ourselves in God’s word as He is our ultimate guide. James 3:16-17 says: “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.”
Our goal is to be wise. This means, we are not going to do anything out of selfish ambition or jealousy. This also means we will seek God, make decisions that are peaceable (legal), as well as remain open to reason (advice from those who know more than us, like medical experts), and most of all we want to be full of mercy and good fruit (loving and seeking the good of all). With this in mind, here is our tentative plan at this point:
Reopen Task Force
We have formed a ‘reopen’ task force made up of members of the congregation that will work in partnership with the Elders and Staff of CCC. This task force will focus on timing and best practices for any and each stage of reopening. Please be praying for the leaders of the church as we make seek to make wise and loving choices in the days ahead. We will do our best to communicate regularly with you as the plan unfolds.
Follow Local Government & Authorities
As of now we intend to follow the guidance of our local government and public health officials along with CDC guidelines as to what we should or should not do. This means we are closely watching the timeline of Governor Inslee’s 4 step plan. It appears we are close to entering Stage 2 as a county, which won’t change our public gathering situation at this time. Stage 3, which allows gatherings of 50 or less will require the most creativity on our part. This very well could include multiples services, no kids ministry to start, social distancing, and other necessary precautions. We will also be closely following the recently released CDC guidelines for faith communities that came out this Friday. We are working on a plan for what all this could look like. Finally, there is a good chance we will need a temporary location when the time comes to gather as the Seattle World School will most likely be on a different timeline than us. We will continue to engage the School District to see if we can get back into our previous facility as soon as possible.
Guiding Principles
Navigating difficult seasons often requires guiding principles. Here are some guiding principles we intend to follow in the weeks and months ahead:
- Stay Legal – We seek to honor the local authorities. Our witness during this time is more important than what we may deem as our ‘rights’. The church has burned enough bridges in Seattle, our hope is to do what is legal and not tarnish our witness.
- Stay Loving – There are so many variables and as a church community we are trying to think of ALL people, including the most vulnerable among us. We are not individuals, but a family so we will think through every decision to make sure it is both safe and loving in every step we take.
- Stay Unified – We will fight to not allow the divisive nature of this creep into and corrupt God’s church. We will seek to maintain humility and unity in all these matters as people who are more influenced by Jesus than partisan politics.
- Stay Online – No matter what physical gatherings look like in the future we will continue to offer church online as we know that many of our members will not be able to participate in person until there is a vaccine.
- Stay Adaptable – CCC began 5 years ago as a church plant. Adaptability has been a part of our DNA from the start. We have an incredible team of leaders and an amazing congregation. We will adapt each step of the way to not only serve our church family, but continue to serve our city and glorify our God. We are in this together!
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. More than anything we can take comfort that Jesus is in charge of the church and He is leading us each step of the way.
In Christ,
-Pastor Jeff
-CCC Elders
-CCC Staff