So what’s the plan?
As many of you know, our staff and Board have been working for the past several weeks on developing our plan for returning to in-person worship services. Many of you recently participated in our congregational survey to help us gauge how ready we are to begin moving toward re-opening. You can click here to see the results of that survey. Today I want to share our plans with you.
The short version:
The short version is that we will likely be re-opening for in-person Sunday Gatherings in mid-to-late May. We aren’t ready to set a date yet, because the next several weeks involve the very real risk of another wave of infections. But after waiting out that period in April, we believe it may very well be safe to start gathering again in May.
The long version:
Some of you may remember that early in the pandemic we created a protocol for re-opening that was based on average daily new case counts in Oceanside. We said we would re-open for Sunday Gatherings once the average dipped below 2 new cases per day for four consecutive weeks. This was before the State of California had devised its own plans for tiered risk assessments. It seemed like a good place to start.
However, much has changed since last summer. On the negative side, we now know that COVID — like influenza — is likely to be with us forever; mutating, infecting, and re-infecting people every year for years to come. That means Oceanside may never fall below an average of two new cases per day over several weeks.
But on the positive side, we now have several highly effective vaccines and Americans are rapidly being vaccinated. We also know that those who are vaccinated are likely to have a high level of protection from serious illness and death.
So the key metrics for determining when it is safe to gather again have shifted from new daily case rates alone to a combination of average daily case rates, total infection rates, and total vaccination rates.
The State of California is tracking all this data very effectively with their Tier system. Therefore, the OSC Board has decided to tie our re-opening plans to the State’s assessment of risk here in San Diego County.
Based on that system, we could technically begin gathering now at 25% capacity — and I know many churches have been doing that. However, we have decided to be more cautious for two reasons:
First and foremost, we don’t want to put anyone at risk unnecessarily. We would rather wait until a significant majority of people in the County are either vaccinated or have been previously infected, or both.
Second, there is strong concern among national public health professionals that we could see a “fourth wave”, and early indications seem to be pointing to that in many states. California has been spared, so far, but we would rather wait a little longer to be sure that San Diego County has reliably turned the corner on this pandemic.
Our plan
For those reasons, we have decided to implement the following plan for re-opening:
We will re-open church once we are confident the risk level in San Diego County is sustainably “moderate” (Orange Tier) or better.
San Diego County may reach the Orange Tier as early as April 7th, but we will wait through the month of April to see if there is a spike in local cases in the wake of the national increase we are now seeing.
On May 4th, if San Diego County remains in the Orange Tier or better, we will announce a re-opening date to occur later in May. If we are not yet in the Orange Tier, we will wait until we are. But given the rapidly increasing vaccination rate, that is not likely to be very long.
Once we open, we will host two limited-capacity worship services at 10 AM and 11:15 AM (please note: we originally announced times for 9:45 and 11 AM but have changed that as of May 4th) in accordance with whatever precautions are required by the State of California. Once California lifts all precautions, we will follow suit.
But what about Hebrews 10:25?
As a pastor, it has been so very frustrating for me this past year to see other pastors and churches utterly disregard the health and well-being of neighbors in order to continue the business of church. It’s even worse, in my opinion, when they quote passages like Hebrews 10:25 to justify doing so:
“And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…”
The irony, of course, is that this passage is all about encouraging one another to love. Frankly, it violates the Christian conscience to imagine a scenario in which a New Testament writer would encourage the church to engage in any behavior that puts other people’s lives at risk. Moreover, the author of Hebrews is not imploring people to gather for the sake of gathering, but rather for the sake of “provoking one another to love” and “encouraging one another.” We know this can be done in many ways apart from face-to-face gatherings.
While we are eager to see you face-to-face, we know our faith does not depend on doing so when we are constrained by difficult circumstances like a once-in-a-century global pandemic. This should should come as no surprise, since the entire New Testament exists precisely because early Christians, who could not be together in-person, used the technology of written correspondence to teach and encourage each other other across great distances of space and time!
Likewise, our church has collectively demonstrated over the past year that we can “gather” and encourage each other very effectively using the internet, social media, and web conferencing. In fact, our church has grown this year by doing so! That is why, even after we are gathering again in-person, we will continue to offer online worship and fellowship for people wherever it is needed.
So I know you’re anxious for normalcy. I am too! But hang in there a little longer. We will be okay. I look forward to seeing your faces — some of you for the first-time in-person! In the meantime, be safe, be well, and be blessed.
Rev. Jason Coker
Lead Pastor