May 29, 2020
Dear TCCBC church family,
Greetings in the Lord to you and your family! We are looking forward to the reopening of the church facility for worship and ministries with excitement. For our church, we are not there yet as Alameda county is not included in this first round of church reopening. We are certainly getting closer to the reopening day as churches in 47 out of 58 California counties are now permitted to meet in the churches again with some restrictions.
Let me use this opportunity to provide you an update on how our church is preparing for the reopening day. The safety and wellbeing of our congregations are the most important considerations in our readiness planning. We will follow federal, state and county guidelines for the reopening. Our reopening plan will include incremental phases according to the government’s official guidelines. The first phase is a soft opening of the church with limited congregants in worship services only. Resumption of broader ministries onsite will come in the later phases, with specifics to be announced later. We will provide the information to our congregations as we move forward with the reopening arrangements that enable our congregations to worship and participate in the many ministries onsite safely. Please be looking out for announcements in your emails, on the church website, mailings and phone calls.
Here are the high level arrangements for the first reopening phase that you can expect. For those who are not well, or you are in the high risk category, we ask that you stay home to continue attending online worship. We will perform a temperature check before you enter the facility. Sunday School and other ministries will continue to be held online. Arrangements have been made to have the church sanitized, with special attention to the high touch areas such as door knobs, handrails, bathroom areas. Hand sanitizer will also be available to you. We will observe social distancing throughout the church and in the seating arrangements. For those who are able to come to church, we ask that you RSVP online or contact the reopening committee ahead of time to ensure we are able to accommodate you. And when you come, please wear a mask or face covering throughout the time you are in the church, and bring your own Bible with you. Please plan to come 20 to 30 minutes before the start of worship for the safety procedures. We will have designated entry through the front of the church, and you will leave through the rear exit doors. Specific instructions will be provided when you come. Just follow the signs throughout the building to join our worship services. The second floor will have restricted access as none of the rooms will be used for regular meetings. We will also have to limit the number of simultaneous bathroom users.
Yes, this sounds like a lot of changes to what we are accustomed to. Our goal is to safeguard everyone from the spread of the coronavirus. Church life is important, and we want to reopen the church incrementally for regular ministries through prudent steps to protect our congregations. I want to express my appreciation to Linda Chau and the Church Reopening Committee for their thoughtful planning and tireless efforts on the church reopening logistics. You can contact Linda or the committee if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing many of you when we reopen in the not too distant future.
Waiting for the church reopening with you,
Job Lee
Pastor Job Lee, Senior Pastor
With fellow church leadership team
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