FLC's Response to the Coronavirus

POSTED 14 MARCH from FLC COUNCIL:

Dear People of Faith,

As COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, spreads around the world, our church council has been in prayerful conversation about how we as a congregation can support each other and our community both spiritually and physically. The council has decided upon the following actions to attend to the well-being of our congregation. We will have worship tomorrow (3/15/2020).

The council will continue to monitor the recommendations of the Center for Disease Control (CDC), The California Department of Public Health, and Butte County Public Health, and consider further amending or cancelling future services on the basis of expert recommendations.

In order to meet the California Department of Public Health’s instruction that gatherings of fewer than 250 people can continue but should maintain 6 feet of distance between individuals, we have rearranged the sanctuary to put 6 feet between rows of chairs. Please allow the ushers to direct you to your seats. We will group families together but space clusters of families 6 feet from each other.

Following the recommendations of the CDC, we encourage older adults and people who have serious chronic medical conditions to stay home from worship. We say this because we love you. It appears that young people in good health suffer little consequences from contracting COVID-19. However, for elderly adults and people with underlying health concerns COVID-19 can be life threatening. We also encourage people who show symptoms to please stay home.

We are committed to the spiritual care of everyone in our congregation, including those who do not attend worship. Sermons are always recorded each week and uploaded to Faith’s website (http://www.chicofaithlutheran.org/audio). This Sunday, we will also broadcast the service live on the church’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Faithlutheranchico/). For those who do not have Facebook or access to the internet, we will audio record the full service and burn it onto a CD which we can mail you.

This very day, the council is individually calling those members of the congregation that are unlikely to have or check email in order to check if they will be staying home in self-quarantine. For those entering self-quarantine, we are working to develop a phone-tree and grocery delivery support network. We are committing that those who need to physically isolate themselves will not be socially isolated. If by the end of today, you or someone you know who is in self-quarantine has not been contacted by the church, please contact Colter Murphy at colter.g.murphy@gmail.com

Coffee hour and the new members class will be cancelled tomorrow. Instead, after worship, those who attend are invited to discuss how we as a congregation can support those who go into self-quarantine. If you cannot attend tomorrow, but would be interested in supporting those in self-quarantine, please contact Colter.

All food events will be cancelled until further notice, including the Tostada Luncheon and Wednesday night Soup Supper and Worship.

At times of great fear and uncertainty, we need more than ever to hear the promise that Christ is with us. Our hope is that these steps allow us to both protect the health of the most vulnerable in our community while still offering them the good news of God's love that will carry us through this time of trial.

God bless you all,

Pastor Ben Colahan,

President Joel Zimbelman