How Our Church is Carefully Reintegrating into Very Small Groups
Where I live in Parker, Colorado our county has entered Phase One of re-entry from Sheltering-At-Home from Covid-19. Our Governor calls it “Safer-At-Home” and we are now allowed to gather in groups of 10 or less. Our church elders, staff, and lay leaders spent last week praying over and discussing how we might go about that as a community. As may be true for you—we have a wide range of opinions and ideas about Covid-19, as well as how the government has responded.
Our conclusions were hard-fought. Each decision required tons of consideration for all sides and all kinds of people. To be honest, it was an exhausting process for our leadership and we know it’s just the first of many phases and many more decisions over the next year or two as we find a new normal in the wake of the pandemic. I thought I would share them here for any other church leaders who might be wrestling through the same decision process. Perhaps, by God’s grace, our work will aid yours—we’ve certainly relied on others who have gone before us!
Based on the guidelines first shared by Andy Crouch in his article “Love in the Time of Coronavirus: A guide for Christian leaders,” on March 12, 2020, Redemption Parker would like to see the following practices implemented at all RP Gospel Communities, CORE groups, or any other small gatherings.
The first five guidelines should be considered non-negotiable—in other words, anyone attending an RP gathering will know they can expect:
Groups of ten or less can meet together, but please, no more. Obviously, some of our households are already large. Therefore, it seems reasonable that those households would be able to host one other household, within the spirit of this guideline. This is a chance for GCs to get creative: perhaps meet with just men or just women and trade off; create a rotation amongst hosts, whereby everyone is in someone else’s home at least once a week; consider dividing if your group is large, etc.
No one who is sick or has any reason to think they have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 should join in.
Shared surfaces in the host’s home should be disinfected before and after the meeting.
Everyone should wash their hands thoroughly (more than 20 seconds) upon arrival and upon returning to their home.
If food and drink are served, they should be prepared with extreme caution and served individually by the host (no potluck and no buffet).
The four guidelines below are encouraged, but somewhat negotiable based on each Gospel Community’s comfort level.
A minimum of six feet should be maintained between members of different households (Crouch says no less than three feet should be maintained).
Based on Gov. Polis’s recommendation, attendees should wear face masks, when possible.
Shoes (and when possible, other personal belongings) should be left outside the front door of the host’s home.
The GC leader should provide an option for members to Zoom/Facetime into the meeting if they are not well or not yet ready to attend a small group gathering.
We’d love for everyone to read “Navigating Different COVID-19 Recovery Convictions.” It displays the heart behind RP’s leadership and our strong desire to extend grace and maintain unity amongst our diversity in the days ahead.
Above all, let this season be an opportunity to consider, with humility, others better than yourselves (Philippians 2:3). Even within our own church body there is a wide range of opinions about this virus and how we ought to handle it. Additionally, we have a spectrum of people with various health conditions and compromised immunities, of which many of us are not even aware. So let’s assume the best of one another, and treat one another with compassion, kindness, and an eagerness to exceed one another’s needs and preferences.
Let’s work hard, out of a love for one another, to adhere to these guidelines with uniformity, so that everyone knows what to expect and how to best prepare themselves and their families in the uncertain days ahead.