Indoor Services Update as of March 1, 2021
Many of our House of Prayer members have asked the question “what is our plan for getting back together for in person services?” As we’ve spent most of the past year in isolation and socially distanced from friends and family, there is an understandable desire to return to some type of normalcy. In our times of trials, having the face to face support of Pastor Karl-John and our fellow members is extremely important. We therefore wanted to let you know what our plans are.
House of Prayer has been closely following the advice and plans from the ELCA Synod which in turn continues to be guided by the Wisconsin Council of Churches. If you’d like to see the complete correspondence and web sites, the links are given below.
To summarize their recommendations, they are considering three phases in the consideration of return to in person services: Unsafe to return, Safer and Safest. Based on the most recent indicators, we are still in the “unsafe to return” phase in all counties in Wisconsin. The synod continues to recommend against returning to indoor in person services. The key indicators that they are monitoring are:
Indicator
Acceptable Goal
Current Level Thru 2/28
% of population vaccinated
50% or greater
16.1%
New infections
Less than 10 per 100,000 people
12.5 % in Wisconsin
11% in Milwaukee Co.
Test positivity rate
Less than 10%
2.4%
The good news is that the positivity daily test rate (7 day average) is currently substantially within the targeted goal. Additionally, while the new infections in Wisconsin remain high, the numbers for Milwaukee County are approaching the acceptable level. The largest gap is with the percentage of people who have been vaccinated. While progress continues to be made in this area, restrictions in the supply will push meeting this goal out until later this year. As the vaccine rollout continues in our area, we may keep a closer eye on the vaccination rate in our congregation if that leans in our favor. We will also monitor the success or problems as other churches return to indoor services to help determine the potential safety for our
congregation. Our investigations have shown that there are several congregations who have successfully returned to indoor services. Obviously there are numerous restrictions and changes required to be implemented to assure the safety of our congregation. We remain focused on the physical well being of our members in addition to our spiritual and emotional well being. We realize that since there will be some members who have not been able to become vaccinated, we want to protect everyone who still remains vulnerable to this disease.
When we are able to open up our church again for indoor services, there will likely be restrictions and changes for us to consider including some of these possibilities:
Possible screening at entrance to church
Require 100% facemask wearing
Spaced seating
Touchless interaction (no handshaking, hugs, etc)
Abbreviated length of worship service
No offering collection (drop box at entrance)
Reduced or restricted singing
Modified communion practices
Availability of hand sanitizer
Possibly begin with one service per Sunday to eliminate the need to sanitize between services
Possibly restrict attendance to assure proper social distancing
Take attendance to allow contact tracing if anyone has reported Covid infection
Reporting in place if anyone in attendance becomes infected
Members refrain from attending if they feel ill at all
Maintain spacing when conversing before or after service or restrict to outdoors only
Continue with recorded services for those who prefer stay at home options
Unfortunately, with all of this in mind, we are not able to estimate a date when we will be able to return to our indoor services. We will be discussing this more in depth at our next regular council meeting on 3/18. We will continue to monitor the progress of the improvements in the battle against this pandemic and we will keep you apprised of our plans.
As always, we continue to keep you in our prayers and we ask that you keep your church and government leaders along with our health care workers in your prayers.
In Christ
Pastor Karl-John
Council President Greg Feld
Worship leader Melissa Jastrow
Links for further information:
ELCA Milwaukee Synod web site addressing Covid-19 restrictions and recommendations: Coronavirus – COVID-19 Resources & Information – Greater Milwaukee Synod ELCA
Latest letter from Bishop Paul Erickson dated 1/25/21:
An Important Message on Returning to Church Considerations from Bishop Erickson – Greater Milwaukee Synod ELCA
Wisconsin Council of Churches Covid-19 recommendations
Returning to Church – Wisconsin Council of Churches (wichurches.org)
Covidactnow website https://covidactnow.org/us/wisconsin-wi/?s=1631572