Letter from Pastor Brian RE: 3/22 Service

Bethany Family,

 

Many have you asked “what’s the plan?”; well here it is.  Thank you for your patience as we have worked to put these pieces together.

Worship:  On Sunday March 22nd we plan to live-stream a time of music, prayer, worship, and the Word at 9:30am via Bethany Baptist’s new YouTube channel.  Our YouTube channel can be found at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcuicgmU1HBoPIj76RVgeBg.  This link will be made available in the coming issue of the Bethany Banner, an upcoming Facebook post, and will be easily accessible on the BBC website (www.bbcinchrist.org).  In the event that the YouTube platform does not work, we will switch back to live-streaming through Facebook as we have been doing in past weeks.

Please do not make an attempt to join this service in person as we are seeking to keep our numbers at the church building below the recommended number of 10 people.  Only those who have a direct responsibility for the production of this service will be at the church Sunday morning.

Though we cannot be together face to face, we encourage you to participate live as the service is being streamed.  Please make a point to sit down together with your family at 9:30am. If you are aware of members of our congregation who may be have limited access to technology, please consider how you may support them in their desire to worship as well.

Under the current circumstances this will be our practice for the next three Sundays (March 22, March 29 & April 5).   We will be following our local, state, and national leadership as we determine what the next appropriate steps need to be.  We are currently operating under the mindset that this kind of restricted contact will likely be necessary beyond these dates.

Prayer and Practical Needs: As we take the necessary steps to distance ourselves throughout this period it is very important that we continue to do our best to support one another.  The deacons and hospitality team are taking steps to reach out to our church family.  We also need you to let us know if you have needs.   This is true of both physical and prayer needs.

We plan to send out your prayer requests by email each Monday and Thursday.   If you have a prayer request, you can email them to bethany@bbcinchrist.org – be sure to mention if you want this shared with the congregation or just the church leadership.  If you desire to subscribe to the Bethany Prayer Matters email, please notify us by email at bethany@bbcinchrist.org.

We will not be maintaining regular office hours throughout this period of quarantine. If you are facing an emergency, you may contact one of the elders or deacons directly.

Remember the ongoing financial needs of the church: Our desire is to have a system in place for you to make online contributions to the church very soon.  You should receive an email regarding this tool in the coming days.  In the meantime, please remember to mail your contributions to:

Bethany Baptist Church PO Box 387 Dollar Bay MI 49922.

We are taking every measure to trim our current expenditures as we anticipate this potentially prolonged situation.  However, many of the church’s financial commitments are fixed – staff compensation, missionaries abroad, utilities and building support, and so on.  Even though we will not be able to meet together, please remember the act of worship that your giving is.

Thank you for your continuing patience as we adapt to an ever-changing situation.

In Christ,

Brian Knight