This past week, for the first time in months, we have actually begun to see a decrease in the spread of Covid in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Assuming this trend continues, our hope is that we can be back to our full in-person worship schedule by Holy Week, if not sooner. What an amazing blessing it will be to celebrate Easter together in person. Of course we know that not everyone will be able to rejoin in person worship at that time, so we will also continue to offer a great online worship experience.
Now begins the work to essentially “relaunch” our ministry. Our God is a God of resurrection. I believe He will not only restore life to our church, but will bring us back together better and stronger than ever. But for that to happen, for us to even return to in-person worship, we need to reclaim one of the foundational values of our church: Everyone is Gifted to Serve.
Going forward, we need to be a church where every person finds their place of service. You have God given gifts, talents and abilities that are meant for the work of Christ. We can't do this work without you! Now is the time when we need every member of this church family to pull together to help us fully restore the work God has called us to.
There are many ways to serve. Step by step, we will re-establish every service team in our church. But in order to relaunch in-person worship, the place we need to begin is in rebuilding our hospitality, tech and music teams. Initially, these three teams will be our areas of primary focus so we can get an excellent in-person worship reestablished. Our intention is to repopulate these teams in a way that allows us a rotation in all areas of service. In this way, even those with limited time availability can serve on a periodic basis in a rotation. We will also provide all necessary training to help every team member be fully equipped and to serve with excellence.
For any who may be unfamiliar with these areas of service, the hospitality team are those people who create a warm and loving welcome as people arrive for worship. The tech team includes serving opportunities for both online worship recording and in-person worship. These positions include sound techs, camera operators, video techs, computer operators, recording engineers and video editors. These positions require varying degrees of training, which we will provide. They include serving opportunities on Wednesday evenings or Sunday mornings. The music and worship team is in need of additional skilled vocalists and instrumentalists for all locations. Our vision is to have full worship teams for all campuses. So there are many opportunities to serve in this area for those with musical abilities.
And so, let the preparations begin. Soon we will be back to offering both in-person and online worship. But to make that happen, we need every person's help. In the coming week you'll be hearing more from me about how you can find your place to serve. Until then, I would invite you to be in prayer about how you can offer your gifts in the work of Christ through our church.
Have a blessed week. I look forward to us all being together this Sunday in online worship as we continue our series “Journey of a Lifetime.”
In Christ’s love,
Pastor Steve