Due to the current recommendations about social gatherings, please note the following important changes:
- Sunday March 15, we will meet at 9:30 am. There will be no childcare during the worship service, and we will not have Sunday school.
- Anyone advanced in years or with a weakened immune system is encouraged to stay home.
- Anyone exhibiting signs of illness (fever, runny nose, respiratory congestion, etc.) should not attend.
- All other ministries – except Small Group – are cancelled through Sunday April 5th.
Please take a few minutes to read the letter, below, from Pastor Brian which provides more explanation regarding the above points of information.
Dear Church Family,
As I mentioned in my last email regarding the COVID-19 virus, this is a very fluid situation. It’s very clear that there have been many new developments since Thursday. These most recent circumstances have led us to take the following ministry actions to further love and protect our church family and neighbors.
We will have our regular worship service tomorrow (March 15) at 9:30 am. However, if you are advanced in years or have a compromised immune system, we strongly encourage to you to stay home. Just as importantly – if you have symptoms of sickness including fever, runny nose, and or respiratory congestion please stay home.
The State of Michigan is informing us that public meetings over 250 people should not meet at this time. Our congregation falls well under these parameters on a normal Sunday, so we feel with the above precautions that is safe for us to meet tomorrow.
We will not be offering any nursery or childcare during this service; we encourage children to participate with their families.
The Worship Service will be made available each week via Facebook Live. We also plan to have the sermon audio available on the website by noon each Sunday.
We plan to meet each Sunday as stipulated above on a week to week basis, based on the circumstances of each given week. We plan to make this decision no later than the Thursday prior to a given Sunday. We will notify you each week via email, bbcinchrist.org website, and social media.
All other ministries of Bethany Baptist will be cancelled through Sunday April 5th. This includes all Nursery, Sunday School, Word of Life, Adult Bible Studies, Youth Ministry events, and Family Life Services.
The only major exception to the above list of cancelations is our Small Group Ministry. We will not officially schedule any Small Group meeting times, but we encourage you to consider how you may be able to meet in small group contexts to love, encourage, pray, and study the Word together. You group may choose to meet together as frequently as you would like, assuming the above-mentioned health concerns do not apply to the members of your group. We also encourage you to seek out other members of our body who may not have a Small Group in this season.
I am praying for you, our church family, that as we endure this momentary affliction we will not live in fear, but with an eternal hope in Christ. We must remember this is not our eternal home; yet while we are here, we are to love those around us with the love of Christ. I encourage you to reach out to your church family who may be shut in at this time, and also to care for your neighbors.
2 Corinthians 4:17 (ESV) For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison…
In Christ I stand,
Pastor Brian Knight
If you have questions, please contact the church office at 906.482.6940 or bethany@bbcinchrist.org.
(posted 3/14/20)